You Are My Sunshine
by MissJessWalker
Summary: COMPLETE. With three of his best friends having found their imprint, Embry hopes to meet his soon. He wants nothing more than to experience the happiness of imprinting, but he is not expecting to find it in Sam's newfound 6 year-old sister who's just lost her mother. Will he accept the imprint and coax her out of her shell? And is there more going on with her than meets the eye?
1. Chapter 1

**I do not own Twilight. Anything familiar belongs to Stephenie Meyer. Everything else belongs to me.**

 **And a few quick things: Jacob is not imprinted with Renesmee in this story, and he won't. Paul isn't imprinted with Jacob's sister, either, and I don't see that happening. Also, I'm not sure how prominent the Cullens will be in this story. Right now, I see the story mostly happening with the pack.**

 **So... yeah. I think that's it. I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter One**

 ** _Embry's POV_**

" _You can have some fun, you know,_ " Paul told me for like the fiftieth time in my head as we ran patrol. For a guy with such asshole tendencies, you'd think he'd leave me alone to live my life. But no, he had to try giving advice. Because clearly he was the guy to go to when that was needed. " _Just because the other guys are dropping like flies doesn't mean you and I are going to. I mean, what are the odds? And hell, if we do manage to find them, wouldn't it be a good idea to have gotten it all out of our system beforehand? Sow those wild oats or whatever._ "

I gave him complete silence for a few beats before saying, " _You are an idiot."_

" _Call me what you want, but at least I'm getting laid._ " He sounded so smug. As if he had it all figured out.

Truth was, I didn't envy him. He did what he wanted with whomever he wanted, but I had no desire for that. A few months ago, I might have been tempted to see things his way. But now after being around so many imprinted couples, there was nothing I wanted less than to be like Paul.

No, I wanted to find my imprint.

I wanted to be happy. I wanted to share those looks like Jared and Kim. I wanted to give kisses whenever I felt the urge like Sam and Emily. I wanted to be able to laugh and laugh with my other half like Quil and Claire.

Though it'd be great if I didn't end up with an imprint I'd have to wait over a decade to really couple with. I wanted an imprint more than anything, but I also hoped mine would be of a certain type. Nothing too demanding, just above eighteen. And nice. And funny. And hopefully pretty. The ability to cook wouldn't hurt. But honestly, I'd take her however I could get her if I got to experience whatever mix of intense emotions I'd witnessed in the other guys and their imprints.

" _Interesting,_ " I heard Paul think, and I instantly dropped my line of thought, assuming he'd been paying attention to my longing and standards. When I peeked over to his head to see what he was referring to, I was relieved to see it had nothing to do with me. Instead, he was settled on his stomach near Sam and Emily's place, watching through the trees as a woman and a small child walked to the front door. " _Recognize them?_ "

I huffed, setting off in his direction. We were supposed to be patrolling, but taking a couple of minutes to check out what was going on couldn't hurt. Plus, Jared and Quil were slated to take over for us soon. " _Right, because I hang out with people who aren't you guys all the time. I have so many friends you don't know about._ "

Paul's furry wolf form came into view, and he tipped his head. " _Stranger things have happened._ " He thought of the people, chicks, he saw on a regular basis that he didn't share in depth with us about. Thank goodness for small miracles that he didn't.

Refusing to dignify that with a response, I stared at Sam and Emily's house as Sam opened the door. Based on the look on his face, the visitors were not expected. As Paul and I witnessed their interaction, my heart beat a little faster. Weird. I chalked it up to eager curiosity. Random people didn't walk up to our doors often.

As I kept trying to explain away my strange heartbeat to myself, Paul's voice in my mind echoed my biggest questions, " _Wonder who they are? And why they're here?_ "

* * *

 ** _Sam's POV_**

Emily and I were curled up on the couch, watching some nonsense show that amused her more than it really should as we talked over wedding plans and waited for the cookies she'd popped into the oven a couple of minutes before to bake. I'd scored one of her beautiful laughs, her face tipping back with a smile, giving me the perfect opening to drop a kiss or two or ten all over her face. I gave an extra couple to the side with those damn scars. Hard as I wished I could take them away, turn back time and change the moment when I'd given them to her, that was not possible. So I'd make up for it the best I could by placing as many loving kisses there as I could. Shit way of making up for it, but it made Emily happy, so I'd do it until the day I died.

Finally reaching her lips, we were just sinking into a sweet kiss when a knock sounded on the door. Both Emily and I froze, connected at the lips. As if we were teenagers caught beneath the bleachers at a football game. A moment later, we separated, grinning like fools. Shaking my head, I ran a hand over my face to compose myself as I moved toward the door.

I paused for a moment before tugging it open, listening to get an idea for who was out there. Definitely not any of the pack members, since they never knocked anymore. They just barged in like a bunch of hooligans. I'd gotten over complaining, though, because Emily loved that they treated our home like theirs. Like we were all one big family.

Honestly, I liked that, too, but I'd rather not admit it.

Listening, I heard two heartbeats. One obviously of a child. Realizing a child was standing out there in the cold, I wasted no time in opening the door.

A woman in a business suit stood there, clutching the shoulder of a small girl who seemed to want no contact. She was pulled into herself, almost as if she were cuddling a stuffed animal of some kind minus the animal. When the door opened, she'd been staring at the ground, but after a moment of my watching her, she peeked up at me.

Those eyes. Those big, emerald green eyes. Lost and sad. They pulled at my heartstrings.

"Mr. Sam Uley?" the woman asked, tearing my attention away from the girl.

I nodded. "That's me."

She nodded back, like she knew I'd say that. "I'm here on behalf of Ms. Hillary Stanley. She passed away-"

Confused, I interrupted, "I'm sorry, who?"

Another nod, as if she expected this. "I will explain everything to you. Can we come in for this conversation? I think she's getting cold." The way she said it made it clear she cared little for the girl. She just wanted to get inside herself, a quick shiver revealing this fact.

But regardless of her intentions, the child was starting to shiver, too. It was for her that I said, "Yes, please, come on in." Stepping aside to allow them entry, I turned my head toward the living room. Emily was standing in the doorway. "We have visitors."

Emily being Emily, she strode forward, a welcoming smile on her face. "Hi there. Please, come sit in here where it's comfortable." She gestured to the living room she'd just exited. "Can I take your coat?"

The woman waved her off, heading over to the couch with the little girl in tow. "No, thank you. I hope to get through this as quickly as possible." A pointed look at me. Apparently I needed to get my ass in gear.

Suppressing a sigh, I shut the door and sat in the recliner chair. "Okay. Explain." My patience with this lady was wearing thin.

Lucky for me, she was in some kind of hurry and got right to it. "I'm here on behalf of Hillary Stanley. She passed away a few days ago, leaving behind this child," she pointed at the girl on the couch next to her, as much space between them as the piece of furniture would allow. "She is the child of Hillary Stanley and Joshua Uley." She leveled her gaze on me, leaving me to connect those dots.

"Are you saying this is my little sister?" I asked cautiously. While this woman wasn't shaping up to be one of my favorite people, I didn't want to scare the young girl. My wolf bristled in my core, annoyed at the prospect of having a sister I'd known nothing about. A sister who was apparently going through something terrible right now.

"Precisely. And with her mother passing, she has no family left. That is, no family… except you." Did this lady not see how every time she spoke of the girl's mother "passing," she cringed? Who had put her in charge of this?

I pushed back my wolf again, taking a deep breath. Calm. I needed to stay calm. "Okay…" I was pretty sure I knew where she was going with this, so the sooner she got to it the better.

"So you are given the choice of taking custody of her. You are not obligated, but we have to give you this choice before we name her a ward of the state."

I blinked. A ward of the state? Did this woman honestly think I'd let that happen? I felt Emily's hand land on my shoulder, squeezing. Of course her thoughts were following along the same lines. "That will not be necessary," I said. "We'd be more than happy to take her in." I paused. "What is…" No.

Standing, I walked over to where the girl sat, kneeling in front of her. She'd been focused on the floor again, and when I stooped to her eye level, she had no choice but to look at me. I gave her a soft smile. "Hello. My name's Sam. That's Emily." She remained watching me even though I pointed at Emily. "What is your name?"

She stared at me, unblinking. She clearly heard me. Clearly comprehended. But still she said nothing.

"Yeah, about that," the woman whose voice was really beginning to annoy me said, "she doesn't talk. Hasn't said a word since she was found." She shrugged, like _what could she do?_

Emily spoke up this time, probably guessing that I needed to take some deep breaths again. "Found?"

I could tell she made some gesture in my peripheral vision, but my eyes remained locked on the girl's. My sister's. "Yes. She was found along with her mother." She stopped, and I thought I'd have to bark something at her for being the worst at filling us in on everything, but she continued without prompt after a brief hesitation. "Her mother hanged herself."

"Dear god," I heard Emily's intake of breath at the same time I saw the girl squint her eyes shut, warding off memories I was sure she did not want brought back up so casually.

My hands balled into fists, and I finally pulled my gaze away from my sister. She did not deserve my glare. No, that was all for this inconsiderate woman who paid no regard for the child who'd just lost her mother - and had apparently been the one to find her body, no less. "You tell me then," I demanded in a tone I tried to soften for the girl's sake. "What is her name?"

Appearing more put out by this than a person with her job should, she said, "Kinley. Kinley Grace Stanley."

"Kinley," I whispered to myself.

"That's so pretty," Emily said from where she stood by the chair I'd been sitting in.

I looked over at her and nodded. Definitely pretty. And definitely fit this adorable little girl. I focused back on her. "Hey, Kinley. Can you tell me how old you are? You can use your fingers."

She studied me warily, trying to figure out my intentions. I let her, saying nothing as she thought through whatever she needed to. Finally, after an entire minute of staring, and a huff from the woman to my left, Kinley raised one hand, all five fingers splayed. Then she added her thumb right next to it.

"Six?" I asked, just glad she'd communicated. "You're six?"

She nodded, lowering her hands back into her lap.

Before I could attempt more, the woman stood. "If you are accepting the responsibility of being her guardian, I need you to sign some papers, and then I'll go once you get her bags from the trunk."

Oh, good. This woman was testing my patience. Her leaving would be great. Then Emily and I could talk to Kinley some more, try to draw her out of her shell a bit.

Rising to my feet, I met Emily's eyes. They held some sorrow for Kinley, but they also held a light they hadn't earlier. She was looking forward to adding this child to our family. If I hadn't already loved her more than life itself, I would have fallen head over heels right then. As I stepped into the kitchen with the woman - how had she not introduced herself? She really sucked at her job - I saw Emily move to sit beside Kinley.

Yeah, Emily was the best.

Hurrying through signing the papers, and the short description of what to expect on the legal end of things in the coming weeks, and then shooing the lady out the door and snatching up Kinley's bag from the trunk with the quickness, we finally bid whatever-her-name-was goodbye. Clicking the door behind me again, it hit me.

I had a little sister. A little sister named Kinley. Her mother had died, she had no family. And now Emily and I were raising her. Such a different reality from the one we had been living in only a few hours earlier. A new member to our family.

 _Our family_.

I needed to tell the pack.

* * *

 **Please, please, PLEASE leave a review and let me know what you think! I love imprint stories and have been wanting to write one for a while now, so I am so excited to get going with this one. Thank you so much for taking the time to read the beginning my story, and I hope you follow along as it continues! :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**I do not own Twilight. If I did, I'd write a spin-off series for wolf imprints because duh. Anything that is familiar belongs to Stephenie Meyer. Everything else belongs to me.**

* * *

 **Chapter Two**

 ** _Sam's POV_**

Emily set Kinley up with a cartoon so we could step aside to have a quick conversation in the kitchen. Kinley didn't look too put out by this, curling up in a corner of the sofa with her eyes glued to the television. Once we were certain she was engrossed, Emily and I spoke in low voices.

"I need to tell the guys," I said, and she nodded. "If I don't, it's only a matter of time one of them comes barging in here and scares her."

Emily's lips twitched. "I'm kind of surprised none of them have stopped in yet. I baked cookies."

We shared a smile for a small moment, and then got back on track. "Yeah, it's only a matter of time. Surely one of them plans on stopping in for dinner. I'll tell them to stay away, let them know what's up."

She crossed her arms over her chest, head tilting in thought. "I don't know. Maybe they shouldn't totally stay away."

I watched her closely, trying to gauge where her mind was going. "What do you mean?"

She shrugged. "Maybe we should introduce them to her. Not today, of course. We don't want to overwhelm her. But maybe little by little tomorrow? I don't think it could hurt for her to see she's not alone."

Her brown eyes pierced mine, and I understood exactly what she meant. That unpleasant woman had said Kinley had _no family_ , except for me. The longer I studied Emily, the more clear it became that this pissed her off. That woman had it all wrong. Kinley had so much more than just me. She had me, yes. But she also had Emily. And Jacob. And Jared. And the entire pack. Hell, she'd even have Paul. We were a misfit of a family, but we were tight knit.

"All right," I agreed. "I'll talk to them tonight, tell them what's going on and to stay away so she can have tonight to settle in. Then tomorrow they can stop by throughout the day."

Releasing a breath, Emily let her arms fall. "Sounds good." Her eyes cut to the doorway. "The poor little thing."

I stepped forward, wrapping my arms around her. Pressing a kiss to her cheek, I whispered, "We can do this, Em. It won't be easy. She's sad. She's grieving. But we can help her through it. She'll be happy again. Okay? We can do it, and with time, she'll be a perfectly happy little girl."

"She's beautiful," Emily whispered back.

"Adorable."

She took another deep breath, air puffing against my neck. Then she moved back, meeting my eyes. "We've got this."

She and I shared another smile. Then she said, "Go. I'll sit with her and get dinner going soon."

I dropped a kiss to her lips.

Five minutes later, I was in wolf form, hearing Jared and Quil in my mind. Not wanting to go too far from the house, but also not wanting to do this too close and scaring Kinley, I ran a moderate distance away before letting a howl rip through the air.

" _What's going on, Sam?_ " Jared asked, already almost to me from where he'd been in the midst of his patrol run.

" _I'll explain it all at once, Jare_ ," I said, settling back on my haunches to wait a moment. I released one more howl for good measure. Tonight was not the night for any of them to ignore me.

Jared slid into sight. " _Is everything okay, at least? Is Emily all right?_ "

Quil scoffed, getting closer himself. " _If Emily were not fine, do you really think he'd be here?_ "

Paul and Embry's minds joined ours, cutting in mid conversation. If you could even call what had been happening a conversation. Not giving them the chance to make their comments, I told them, " _Just get here. I'll explain everything soon._ "

The questions stopped coming my way, but that didn't mean they ceased in their individual minds. I cut my attention to Paul and Embry, both of which had apparently witnessed the woman and Kinley arriving. After a couple of seconds focusing on Paul's thoughts, I pulled back into my own. Any longer in his head would cause trouble. Kinley was _not_ a daughter I had no idea about.

" _Hey_ ," Paul defended, " _It's not that bad of a guess!_ "

I huffed. " _Shut up_."

It took ten minutes, but all the guys managed to get their asses to the small clearing I'd chosen as our meeting place. They were all settled in a semi-circle around me, waiting.

" _Emily and I had a visitor today_ ," I started, and the entire pack got a glimpse of either Paul or Embry's memory from earlier until whichever had let it loose reined it in. " _Yes. Them._ "

A chorus of questions began to flood the connection immediately.

" _Who are they?_ "

" _What does this have to do with us?_ "

" _Is everything okay?_ "

" _Are they still at your house?_ "

" _Quiet!_ " I shouted in our heads while barking out loud at the same time. All questions instantly ceased, and the entire pack watched me curiously. " _I'm explaining now. Keep questions to yourselves. Got it?_ "

Only after they all nodded did I continue. " _There's really no way to ease into this, so I'll come right out and say it. That little girl Paul and Embry saw. She's my little sister._ Quiet," I insisted again, knowing that announcement would bring on another wave of questions. " _I did not know about her. Apparently my dad had a daughter with someone else before he died. He never told me._ "

My gaze swept over the guys. My family. All eager to hear more about this sister I'd met today and curious about why she was here. I wasn't looking forward to sharing the next part. " _Her mother died._ " I paused, deciding to add, " _She hanged herself. In front of my sister_."

I didn't say anything this time, allowing them their exclamations and giving them a chance to settle themselves down. None of them knew Kinley yet. Hadn't met her, had no clue what her face looked like, nothing. But they already knew she was my sister. That was enough to make them upset by this information.

" _She has no other family left, except for me… and us. That's who that woman was, the person arranging a place for my sister to go._ " I left out the bit where the woman was inconsiderate and mentioned the possibility of us not taking Kinley in, leaving her a ward of the state. They would take as kindly to that as I had, which was to say not at all. " _She's six, and her name is Kinley_."

Quil, with his soft spot for children due to his young imprint, thought, " _Cute_."

" _Emily and I decided that it'd be best for you all to meet her soon_." Sounds of agreement came from a few of the wolves around me. " _But we want to give her tonight to settle in. You can drop by throughout the day tomorrow._ "

I wracked my brain for anything I'd left out that they needed to know. Truth was, I didn't even know much yet. We hadn't had much time with her. But we'd learn more in time. We'd get to know her, and make her feel safe. We'd show her she had a family, and it'd be just like I'd told Emily. Kinley would be the happy little girl she deserved to be.

Suddenly I noticed one of the wolves. Embry. Something was off about him. I couldn't pinpoint it beyond his heartbeat beating a tiny bit faster than normal. " _You okay, Embry?_ "

My inquiry seemed to drag him out of deep thoughts, but before I could peek in to see what exactly weighed on his mine, he dropped them completely as he gave me his attention. " _I'm fine. Sorry_."

Keeping my eyes on him, I studied him for a moment. Coming up with nothing, I shrugged it off. If whatever it was turned out to be a big deal, I was sure we'd talk about it later. My gaze moved over all the guys again, stern now. " _You will all be on your best behavior. You will keep your tempers in check and be kind to her. The last thing she needs right now is to be frightened by any of you. We are her family. Keep that in mind._ "

None of them argued, and after setting up a staggered schedule for each of them to drop by the next day, I set off back home. When I entered the house, I found both Emily and Kinley in the kitchen. Kinley sat at the table observing Em cook dinner as Emily chattered at her. Something about the scene struck a chord in my chest, and I stood in the doorway for a minute, just watching them.

Kinley wasn't smiling, nor did she appear exactly relaxed, but she didn't draw into herself as much as she had before. She sat silently in her chair, completely focused on Emily.

My imprint turned to smile at Kinley, noticing me in the process. "Hey, you," she said. "You're just in time. Dinner's pretty much ready."

I smiled. "Perfect." I looked down at Kinley and saw that the small girl now stared at me. Heading over, I sat in the chair to Kinley's left, leaning close. "Did she give you a cookie?" I stage-whispered.

"Samuel," Emily scolded lightly, laughing a little. "She can have one after dinner."

"Right, right," I agreed, waiting until Emily turned around to send Kinley a wink. Her only response was a blink, but she didn't look away from me as I leaned over toward the counter where Emily had set out the cookies. I snagged one real quick, breaking it in half and handing the larger half to Kinley.

I popped my half into my mouth real quick just as Emily turned back to us. Kinley wasn't as fast, though, studying the treat in front of her uncertainly. "Did you just give Kinley a cookie, Sam?" Emily asked, spotting the uneaten half.

"Nope," I said innocently. "She got that all by herself. I tried to stop her."

"You're hilarious," Emily said in a monotone, but she clearly was not angry. We both looked down at Kinley then, only to see the little girl sitting still. Her eyes jumped between Em and me.

I leaned toward her again, my voice gentle. "Hey, it's okay. You can eat that. Emily's not mad. You're not in trouble."

Emily agreed right away. "Yeah, go ahead, honey. We're just joking."

A few seconds passed where Kinley did nothing, only looked at her half of the cookie, lost in thought. What was on her mind? I wanted to ask her, but then she copied what I had done, popping the entire half into her mouth at once. It was more of a struggle for her to chew it up, but I laughed. She was adorable.

Emily and I shared relieved glances, but I knew we were both even more curious about where Kinley had come from than before. Why had she been so nervous? Maybe it was simply because we were new. She didn't know us yet. But something told me it was more than that, and the possibility made me uneasy.

My suspicions were brought to an infuriating reality when Emily went to bathe Kinley before bed. We'd eaten dinner, Em and I talking, but Kinley remaining silent. We talked to her, asked her questions, but if it was anything more than what she could answer with a shake of her head, we got nothing more than a blink in response. We didn't push her. She'd ease into being around us in her own time.

After we finished eating, I offered to do the dishes while Emily got Kinley settled to sleep. I'd only barely started when Emily called from the upstairs bathroom, "Sam!"

Dropping what I was doing - literally, I just let go of the plate I was washing and soapy water spattered, but I paid that no mind - I rushed up the stairs and down the hall. Em stood in the bathroom doorway, face pale. "What's wrong?" I asked frantically, searching her expression as I lifted my hands to cup her cheeks.

"Kinley," she whispered, her eyes wider than I'd ever seen them. "Kinley, Sam. Look at her back!"

My body went deathly still. Based on her expression now and Kinley's behavior since she arrived, I had a guess for what I'd find on her back. I needed to keep calm for this. An impossible task, but I'd try my best to do it for Kinley. Slowly, I moved my hands to Emily's hips, pressing her back into the bathroom. I leaned around her and saw Kinley standing as far from the door as she could get, pressed against the wall. Her head was ducked as she stared with vacant eyes at the tile floor, tears sliding down her face.

My heart shattered. "Kinley," I cooed. "Kinley, come here, baby girl."

She flinched, gaze snapping to me. Her head shook back and forth.

"You're not in trouble. We just want to help you, okay? We're not going to hurt you or yell at you. We just want to see so we can help you." She started trembling. "Please, Kinley. Let us help you."

Emily said, "It's all right, honey. Come on."

Kinley stood there unmoving for what felt like forever but was probably only minutes. Both Emily and I stayed where we were, waiting patiently. This child needed our patience, and we would freely give it to her. I didn't know if she realized that or if she saw we weren't going to hurt her, or if she resigned herself to the fact that she was not getting out of this, but she finally took one step away from the wall and turned around.

I took one large step over to her, reaching my hand out to touch her shoulder. It was tense beneath my fingers. "I'm going to look now, okay?"

She nodded, taking a couple more seconds before she did.

With her permission, I pulled up the hem of her shirt, tugging it all the way up to the top of her back like ripping off a bandaid.

 _Shit_.

Remaining calm suddenly went up a million degrees on the impossible scale. But I took several shaky breaths, my hands trembling, forcing a calm I in no way felt. Kinley did not need me blowing up. For her, I had to keep it together.

For Kinley. I could do it for her.

I kept reminding myself of that as my eyes shifted over her back. Over the scars marking nearly every surface. Burn marks, whip marks, and other marks that I couldn't even fathom their origin. And there were bruises. A couple yellowing ones, a few blue ones, and a handful of darker ones, all intermingling all over that little girl's back. How could a back so tiny even hold all of this?

Unable to look any longer, I carefully slid her shirt back down. Grabbing her shoulders gently, I turned her toward me, meeting her watery gaze. "Kinley… baby girl, who did this to you?"

Her immediate response was to shake her head.

Inhaling through my nose, I nodded. "I get that you don't want to tell me, but please, Kinley. Was it your mother?" _Did she hang herself because she couldn't face how vile she was to an innocent child?_

Another head shake, this one more frantic as her tears increased.

I couldn't take this. I couldn't push her. I wanted to know so badly who was to blame, so I could repay them tenfold. But as she stood there, shaking and upset, I knew I had to leave it be.

Because more than I needed answers, I needed my little sister to be okay. And right then, asking her more would not make that happen. So I let it go until she felt more secure to discuss it, whenever that may be, and pulled her into my arms, wrapping her in as tight of an embrace as I dared. She stayed stiff at first, but after a couple heartbeats she relaxed, crying into my shoulder and wrapping her arms around me the best she could.

As I knelt there holding my baby sister, one of Emily's hands sifted through my hair, and I knew the other was doing the same to Kinley's. Right then, we were a unit. Kinley had come from a cruel, terrible place, but she had us now. We were her family, and we wouldn't hurt her. We'd take care of her, protect her no matter what.

The pack would be on board, too. They'd take her on as part of our large family right along with Emily and me. Kinley just needed to _meet_ the rest of her family. Tomorrow.

* * *

 **Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed, followed, and favorited! I hope you liked this chapter! Embry and Kinley will meet in the next chapter, so you know. That'll be fun. :)**

 **Please review! Your feedback is so valuable to me!**


	3. Chapter 3

**No, I have not magically acquired _Twilight_ between this chapter and the last. That, along with everything familiar in this story, belongs to Stephenie Meyer. Everything else does belong to me, though.**

* * *

 **Chapter Three**

 ** _Embry's POV_**

How creepy was it that I looked forward to meeting a six year old girl more than I could remember looking forward to anything in a good while? I wished I could pinpoint what it was about her, but I could think of nothing to explain my odd excitement. My heart spazzed whenever she came up, or when my thoughts strayed her way. It made no sense. I hadn't even met her yet. I knew her name, her age, and that her mother had killed herself, leaving the girl with no family except us. That was it.

And yet, there my heart went again, speeding up.

I'd memorized the schedule for today. Quil and Leah were set for the first introductions. Quil because he was surprisingly good with children - though I suppose it wasn't so surprising now that he'd imprinted on Claire. And Leah because it was probably best to get her introduction over with. Pairing her with Quil would hopefully soften her attitude if she woke up to a bad day. Never could tell with her.

Next up was Jacob. He was the only one going individually - because he'd be getting off patrol around that time, while Jared was sticking around for a double shift to patrol with me since he'd traded a few days ago so he could take Kim out, so Sam figured Jacob might as well drop by then.

I was paired with Jared to go after Jacob. Lucky for us, we got a slot between lunch and dinner, which meant there was a strong possibility we'd get cookies or brownies or some other delicious treat. Emily was awesome that way.

After Jared and me was Paul and Seth. The idea was that sticking Paul in with Seth _and_ for dinner would lighten his mood if he had his own bad day. I suspected he'd be better in the situation than Leah, since Leah almost always got touchy whenever anything concerning Sam or Emily came up, but Sam's planning was smart.

Finishing out the night would be the youngest pack members, Collin and Brady, for no other reason I was aware of than that they were the newbies. They were still easing into the pack dynamic, so waiting until the end of the day to introduce them would probably be helpful, since they could take cues from what the rest of us do throughout the day as we meet Sam's sister. Both boys were good kids, so it wasn't really a worry, but caution couldn't hurt.

" _Dude,_ " Jared thought to me as we ran our patrol around noon. Jacob had left about half an hour ago and was surely meeting Kinley at that very moment. " _Why are you thinking so hard about this?_ " No suspicion or accusation, just genuine curiosity. Join the club.

I huffed, picking up speed. " _Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe it'll go away later?_ " Once I actually met her.

I sensed Jared turning ideas over in his mind, but I didn't peek over to see what he was coming up with. Last thing I needed was more fuel to my current brand of crazy. " _Maybe_ ," he said without conviction.

Yeah, I didn't have high hopes either. But there was nothing I could do about it. So I kept as I was doing, running and running. Keeping the reservation safe.

Sometime later, Jared skidded to a halt. " _What's wrong?_ " I asked, changing course to head his way.

From what I could tell, he didn't move. He wasn't fighting anyone or following a scent. He was just frozen in place, mind still spinning. " _I think I know why you're so obsessed with Kinley_."

With those words, it was my turn to stop. Jared's whirring thoughts had come to a conclusion. And he must have been pretty sure about it if he was reacting like this. " _Really?_ " Now I tried to see what was going on in his head.

Suddenly, he blanked his mind. It was only for a moment, but when it went back to normal, whatever he'd figured out was buried so deep I would have had to dig to find it. Out of courtesy to each other, we tended to avoid doing that. " _I really don't think I should tell you. If I'm wrong, it'd be bad._ " I prepared to protest, because my curiosity was going wild, but he added, " _And if I'm right, you'll know soon._ "

Based on his thoughts and the finality in what he told me, chances were slim I'd get him to share what he'd come up with. So I did the only thing I could do at that point - went back to sprinting through our patrol route.

A while later, Jared and I were walking up to Sam's front door, much like Kinley and that woman had the day before. Strange to think she'd only been here for one day. A single day, and I hadn't even met her yet, but she was having such an impact. I was affected in my way, and we had a new little girl to look after.

Normally we'd just walk in, but Sam had asked that we all knock and wait to be let in for a bit, until Kinley got more comfortable. She was skittish enough without the lot of us barging in at all hours. I raised my hand to knock and saw that it trembled. Surprised, I dropped it to my side.

Without comment, Jared took over, lifting his own hand to knock.

A few seconds of waiting, and then Emily opened the door wide. "Hey, guys." Her smile was cautious. Had something gone wrong earlier? "Come on in." Jared and I stepped inside, and as the door closed behind us, Emily leaned in and whispered, "Be easy. She's doing great, all things considered, but it's also wearing on her." I could only imagine. Six years old, mother recently deceased and in a traumatic way, taken in by a brother who had no clue you existed, and then thrust into our pack family full of big guys who no doubt seemed intimidating. Of course it was wearing on her.

But I knew Sam and Emily were doing their best. What they thought was right. And really, I couldn't argue. After losing the only family she'd ever known, being reassured that she did, in fact, have family left was probably comforting.

Emily led us into the living room, and I trailed kind of slowly behind Jared. My heart was speeding into overdrive again. I should try to calm down before meeting her.

Rationally, I thought that, but my legs didn't care. They kept me moving right on along behind Jared, still trailing behind, but not as slowly as I'd been aiming for. Something about that room was pulling me in, and I could do nothing but give in. I heard Jared greeting Sam's sister quietly, not focusing on exact words. It was only when the room filled with silence that I looked around, my eyes catching on… _her_.

She sat on Sam's lap, wide green eyes intent on me. I couldn't look away. Those eyes, they held me captive. They held me solidly right where I was as I felt my entire being _shift_. No longer was anything else more important than this small girl. She was my reason for breathing. I would protect her, defend her, be there for her, be anything for her, whatever she needed. That was me. I needed her to be alive, well, and happy. I'd die for her.

My breath caught as I made these realizations. As gravity ceased to mean anything, because she… she was _everything_.

"From the looks of it," I vaguely heard Jared say, "I was right."

"Embry?" Emily asked uncertainly.

It was Sam's hard voice that broke the initial spell. " _Embry_. Tell me you didn't." My gaze flew from _hers_ to Sam's. I hadn't planned on denying, but even if I'd wanted to, he would have known with one glance. He proved this true with the growl that escaped when he studied me. On his lap, Kinley flinched.

Emily noticed it, too. " _Samuel_ ," she scolded.

Her voice made him snap to attention. He looked at his sister huddled in his lap. His deep breath was visible and clearly effective, because he pushed aside his upset and spoke gently. "Kinley, this is Embry."

She'd been watching me until Sam growled. Hearing my name now, she turned back toward me. She blinked once. Twice. Then on the third, something stunning happened. Something that finally calmed my heart that had been racing.

She smiled.

It was the sweetest smile I'd ever witnessed in my life, and I knew this memory would be branded into my brain for all of time. Seeing my imprint smile at me for the first time. I couldn't help but smile back, and those emerald eyes sparked with a fragile happiness.

And then Sam ruined it by standing up and placing her on the couch by herself, telling her, "Embry and I will be right back. Okay, baby girl?"

Her gaze jumped between Sam and me, asking with her expression to stay.

Again, Emily caught on. "Sam, I'm not sure-"

He waved a hand, cutting her off. "I need to talk to him, Emily. It'll only take a minute. Okay, Kinley? We'll be right back."

She didn't respond, simply looking down at her hands in her lap. My newly calmed heart squeezed. The last thing I wanted to do right then was leave this room to have a little chat with Sam. But judging by the look on his face, he wasn't going to give me a choice. So I decided not to fight over this. We'd step out, talk, and then I'd be back with my imprint.

My imprint. Finally. I wanted to laugh at myself for ever worrying that I might not find mine, and for trying to create standards. Kinley was new to me, but I already knew she was perfect. I couldn't ask for a better imprint.

I took it as a positive sign that Sam led me into the kitchen instead of outside. He didn't plan on a physical altercation. It was an even better sign that he pulled out a chair and seated himself at the table. Not only would we not be having a physical altercation, but we'd actually have a civil conversation. Calmy taking the seat across from him, I met Sam's eyes. His were burning with a protective intensity I forced myself not to get defensive over. Kinley was his little sister. His little sister who was currently going through a difficult time, no less. Of course he'd be fiercely protective. I had no reason to be offended.

He wasted no time in cutting to the chase. "I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to bash your face in right now. She's six years old, and we _just_ got her. Six whole years and I had not a single clue she was alive. And now that I do, you come in and automatically lay an imprint claim on her? Sucks, man." He sighed. "But I get it. Imprints are imprints and we can't control it." Yeah, Sam knew that better than most. "And I can see that she's already happy as all hell that you're around. She hasn't been talking or laughing or smiling…" he trailed off, clearing his throat. "So I think this will be good for her."

He went silent, that fierce stare cutting into me yet again. I continued sitting there calmly until he felt the urge to proceed. "But you _better_ be good to her. She's your imprint. No denying it or ignoring it. Nothing that will hurt her. You make her happy, you be good to her and _that is it_. No nonsense, Embry. She deserves better."

I saw where he was coming from. Some people, like Jacob, didn't want to imprint. They wanted to love who they loved without any wolfish mojo getting in the way. Some people, like Leah, straight up hated imprinting. They wanted nothing to do with it. So Sam had a basis for his worries.

 _However_. Why did he feel the need to say this to _me_? I had no problem with imprinting. I was sitting here, itching to get back to my imprint. I was all in right now.

Apparently Sam could tell where my thoughts were traveling because he simply said, "I know you had expectations, Embry."

Well. Shit. I immediately shook my head. "I don't care about those anymore, Sam. They were stupid, anyway. You know as well as I do that I threw that all out the window the moment I saw Kinley."

His lips twitched. "I know. But you may get frustrated. She's young. You've got a long time to wait and go through before things could go your way. I don't want you throwing any shit her way for something she has no control over."

Again I shook my head. "I accept her completely, Sam. She is everything." Truer words I had never spoken.

He full on smiled now, nodding. "Good. Let's keep it that way, alright?"

I was agreeing when Emily strode into the room, sparing us a short glance before tugging open the oven and pulling out a tray of muffins. " _Hell yes_!" I shouted, punching my fist in the air. Total win getting this time slot, I swear.

A small giggle came from the doorway, and everyone in the room's heads whipped to see Jared standing there with Kinley in his arms. Her arms were around his neck, and she was leaning her head on his shoulder as she watched me, an adorable little smile on her face.

Jared bounced her a tiny bit. "You find that funny, little girl?"

Still watching me, she nodded, and though her smile faded, her eyes were still sparkling.

"You want a muffin, honey?" Emily asked.

"Yes, please," I answered, facing Em to give her my best puppy dog expression.

She laughed, bopping me on the head with an oven mitt. "We all know you want one, Embry Call. I was asking the little princess over there."

I pouted in response and Emily laughed again.

Jared sat next to me, Kinley on his lap. She seemed pretty comfortable with him already, but that wasn't surprising. Jared was a nice guy. He'd have to be to score a sweet girl like Kim.

Emily placed a muffin in front of Kinley before handing one to me and then Jared and Sam. Kinley's expression was perplexed as she studied the large muffin on the table. With a chuckle, Sam said, "Want us to break it up for you, Kinley?"

I scoffed and Kinley's gaze flew to me. "No way." I winked at her. "You can do this. Follow my lead, okay?" After a short hesitation, she nodded. I placed my muffin on the table in front of me like hers was. "One finger here, and the other here." I put one finger on top of my muffin, and the other on the edge of the wrapper. "And then just _peeeeel it_ ," I drew out the last two words as I did the motions for effect, and though she didn't laugh she seemed to like it.

Tiny face scrunched up in concentration, she tried to follow my lead. But her fingers were so small. Biting the top half of his muffin off without a problem - and also like a crazed neanderthal because who ate their muffins like that? Inhumane, I swear - Jared put his down on the table and proceeded to help her out. Once she'd caught up with me, I broke my own muffin in half, and then into four pieces. Again, Jared gave Kinley assistance when hers started to crumble.

When we had nearly identical chunks of muffin in front of us, separated from the papers, I nodded with satisfaction. "See? We got this." I raised my hand for a high five, and Kinley blinked at my hand for a second, seemingly confused. The girl didn't take long to catch on, though, and after a few seconds, she leaned over from Jared's lap and slapped her hand against mine enthusiastically.

"There we go," I said with yet another smile. We were totally bonding right now and I loved it. "And now, we eat." Kinley watched in awe as I took one piece of my muffin and popped the entire thing in my mouth. She looked like she wanted to try the same but thought better of it, and just took a bite. Even in fours, the muffin was large for such a little girl.

Sam, Jared, and I were done with our muffins pretty fast, but we sat around the table chatting as Kinley ate her entire treat, which took a good chunk of time. Only a few minutes after she finished her muffin, Emily started on dinner. Pasta. Damn. I loved the muffins, but it would have been awesome to get the dinner slot. Emily had some amazing family recipe that made her sauce and meatballs the epitome of delicious.

Since Sam hadn't asked us to leave, Jared and I stayed as Emily cooked. I could tell Jared was hoping we got to stay long enough that it'd be rude to kick us out for dinner. It wasn't just me who loved Emily's pasta.

Not too long after Emily started cooking, Kinley slid off Jared's lap. Jared and I watched her curiously, but Sam shook his head at us. "Bathroom." And with that, we asked no more questions, jumping back into our conversation.

Suddenly, the front door banged open and Paul stormed through. "Please tell me dinner is ready because I am beyond starving, and having to spend time with this idiot's perky ass is not helping matters."

All eyes in the room were on him for the barest second before a quiet whimper came from the doorway behind where Paul stood. Then we all looked there and saw Kinley against the wall - the corner of the entryway, rather - with pain in her eyes.

I had no clue who moved faster, me or Sam, but we were there in a flash, kneeling in front of her and beside her.

"Kinley?" I asked frantically. "What's wrong, sweetheart?"

"Did Paul scare you?" Sam asked in a slightly calmer tone than mine. "He's okay. He won't hurt you."

Her eyes kept flicking to me, but she seemed to be trying to communicate something to Sam. Reluctantly, I turned to him, waiting for him to catch on to whatever it was.

He studied her for a minute, and then his eyes widened. "Oh, baby girl, are you okay?" He pulled her forward gently, and pulled up her shirt to look at her back. "Did he scare you and you ran into the wall?"

Unable to help myself, I shifted my weight so I could peek around to see what her back looked like.

Mistake. Taking a look was a huge fucking mistake. My whole body started shaking, and I wished I could bleach that image from my mind forever. My little Kinley, her tiny back, completely _covered_ in marks. Scars and bruises and a red line down her back showing where she's just run into the corner of the entryway wall. "What," I said, my voice full of forced calm that was really wearing thin, "the fuck," a deep breath, "is that?"

"Embry," Jared said from behind me, and I felt his hands on my shoulders, pulling me back. "Calm down, man."

"Calm down?" I asked him incredulously, my body shaking even more.

He turned me to face him, face solemn. "Yeah, _calm down_. You freaking out won't help anything. And you're scaring her."

Now _that_ was what I needed to hear. My trembling subsided, and I turned to see Kinley in Sam's arms, her head on his shoulder and his hand smoothing down her hair in comfort. "You okay, sweetheart?"

She appeared heartbreakingly sad as she nodded, and then in a gesture that set my soul alight, she reached for me.

For _me_. Sam held her in his arms, and she reached out for me to hold her.

I didn't make her wait. My hands went under her arms, and I took her from Sam, holding her against my chest. Never had anything felt so _right_. I moved back into the kitchen to sit down, this time with her in _my_ lap, clinging to _me_ , and even though I knew things weren't all right in the world - not when Kinley had gone through whatever had happened to make her back look like _that_ \- I knew everything would be okay.

Everything had to be okay when I had this sweet little girl in my arms.

My imprint.

My everything.

* * *

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	4. Chapter 4

**I do not own _Twilight_. That belongs to Stephenie Meyer, along with everything familiar in this story. Everything else in this story does, in fact, belong to me, though. Yay!**

* * *

 **Chapter Four**

 ** _Sam's POV_**

I couldn't decide if introducing Kinley to the pack was going very well or very terribly. I mean, they clearly liked her and she seemed to be liking them. She'd even cuddled up to Jared a bit, which was definitely a good sign.

But then there was Embry and Paul.

Embry, who had _imprinted on her_. I was aware that an imprint with someone so much younger wasn't bad. It could be great, actually. It worked amazing with Quil and Claire. But this was my little sister. I'd met her less than a day before, and she was dealing with a shattering loss. This imprint walked a fine line. Either it could be good for her, help her through this tough time and strengthen her, or it could turn into a big mess that only make things more difficult.

I had to give Embry credit, though. He didn't seem to have the intentions of sending things downhill in the slightest. I knew he was waiting for his imprint. The whole pack knew. His desire wasn't exactly subtle. But we were also privy to the fact that he had pretty high standards. As someone who was already imprinted, I knew that list wouldn't matter a single bit once Embry found his other half, but when he found his imprint in _Kinley_ , I'd be lying if I said it didn't worry me. When I asked him about it, he gave the answer I would have given in his place. So that was good.

Still, I couldn't help it. I worried. Even though Embry gave me no reason to.

My worries were somewhat eased when Kinley actually laughed and smiled for him. Surely that showed the imprint was already helping.

Then there was Paul. The asshole I was still unsure how to deal with. Barging into my house, after I'd instructed them all to knock and wait to be let in, and scaring Kinley so that she stepped into the wall. The poor girl's back was already covered with injuries. The last thing she needed was to add more. On the bright side - if we could even consider one - this ended up another opportunity for Embry to prove himself a serious imprint. Right along with me, he was there making sure she was okay. And when she reached for him… judging by the look on his face, she'd made his day. Or week. Or month. Embry was earning my respect and confidence fast.

Which was good because the less I worried over him, the more I could focus on how bad I was going to beat Paul later. Embry had Kinley cuddled on his lap back at the table, and Paul was standing in the doorway, shifting on his feet.

He met my eyes, and whatever he saw there - fury, most likely - made him freeze. Then he walked over to where Embry and Kinley sat. Embry seemed to tense, no doubt as angry as I at that moment. Paul knelt in front of my sister, a gentle smile on his face.

"Hey, little lady," he said softly. "Sorry I scared you. Are you mad at me?" The innocent expression he wore would have normally caused me to laugh. Now, however, I just watched stoically.

Kinley leaned her head toward Embry, eyeing Paul shyly. She blinked at him for a few moments. Then, in a way that seemed almost playful, she shrugged.

In response, Paul released his lower lip in a pout. "I'm really sorry. I'm just a grumpy guy. I'll be nicer from now on, I promise. We can even be friends?" He added the last as a suggestion, a hopeful light in his gaze. The entire exchange was giving me pause. Since when did Paul care about making nice with the imprints? I mean, he _was_ cool with the imprints. He treated Emily and Kim like sisters, and he nearly always had a smile for Claire. But this felt different. Like he cared more, for some reason.

Before I could put more thought into it, Kinley caught my attention. She reached forward and pushed Paul's lip back, pushing away his pout.

He smiled. "So are we friends?"

Looking like she wanted to smile, she nodded.

The entire room was watching, and a quick glance around showed that everyone else found Paul's behavior suspect, too. Everyone except Kinley, that was. She did seem bothered by the rest of us reacting so stunned, though.

Seth, cool dude he was, picked up on this and stepped forward, nudging Paul out of the way. "Hi!" he said, large smile taking over his face. "I'm Seth. I'm a way better friend than Paul, I promise."

"Clearly not," Paul argued, casting a conspiratorial glance at Kinley. "You're already lying to her. What kind of friend does that?"

"You call it lying, I call it the dead honest truth."

And with that, Kinley's face shut down. She buried her face in Embry's neck, and he stroked her hair soothingly. Paul smacked Seth on the arm. Emily was giving the kid the evil eye, which was a first. She gave that look to Paul often. She gave it to me on occasion. Sometimes Jacob or Quil, a couple of times to Embry and Jared. But Seth? Yeah, this was a first.

Catching on fast to the fact that he'd messed the fuck up, Seth hurried to apologize. "Oh. _Oh_. I am so sorry. I-"

"Seth," Embry said, voice irritated. "Just stop talking." He looked up from where he'd been focused on his hand running down Kinley's hair to give Seth a glare.

Emily, reining in her own annoyance, spoke up before anything could escalate. "Come on, Seth, you can set the table." He did so without complaint.

Embry's attention centered completely on Kinley once again, and I finally eased into the thought that he had imprinted on her. As much as I wished I could hold my frustration with it, I could already tell Embry was utterly devoted to that little girl. Fighting about what they couldn't control and were doing fine with would only cause unnecessary strain. Something Kinley did not need.

Embry appeared to be comforting her just fine and by the time Emily was adding dinner to everyone's plates, she was back to sitting up and peering around at all of us while we talked. She didn't laugh or smile, but she wasn't trying to hide in Embry's neck either, so we'd take what we could get. She ate her dinner on Embry's lap, with him eating around her as best he could. He didn't complain a single bit.

When it came time for them to leave before Collin and Brady showed, which would probably turn out to be a shorter meeting because poor Kinley looked exhausted, she clung to Embry for so long I began to think I'd have to coax her away.

But then Embry whispered something to her and she nodded. A couple seconds more and she was unwrapping her arms from his neck while he lowered her to the floor gently. "I'll be back tomorrow," he promised. Her eyes blinked at him, holding him to his words.

And then they were out the door, Embry tossing me a glance full of meaning as he left. We needed to talk later. After Kinley was in bed. I hadn't scheduled myself for patrol until the next night, giving a small gap of time for me to help get Kinley situated, so I'd only have to step out for a few minutes while Embry and I chatted about whatever was on his mind. I had an idea about what that was, but I'd wait for him to bring it up before I openly discussed.

Kinley and I sat on the couch like we had when Jared and Embry arrived earlier, her curled in my lap. This time, she relaxed into me sleepily. When Collin and Brady showed, she became more alert, but less so than she'd been at the start of the day. Both progress and tiredness, I guessed, feeling glad at the steps forward we'd taken. We still had a long way to go to getting her to normal and happy, but any improvement was better than none. Especially so early on.

Kinley had been in bed for about half an hour when I told Emily I'd be back soon. She didn't ask where I was headed, and I had a hunch that she knew. Not only did I think she knew, but I also figured that she had a good idea of what exactly it'd be about. She was sharp.

I had no reason to phase into my wolf form, and this conversation would be best without the wolves currently patrolling listening in, so I walked through the woods toward his house. When I made it almost halfway there, Embry stood from a log where he'd been seated.

"How long had you been waiting here?" I asked.

He shrugged. "A while. But who cares about that? Tell me what's going on."

While I knew exactly what he meant, my alpha didn't respond well to the demand, so I narrowed my eyes and gave him a hard time. "What do you mean?"

He scowled, but had the good sense to check himself. With a sigh he said, "Kinley's back. Can you tell me what that's about? Did her mom do it? Does she have marks elsewhere? Is she okay? Wait, that's a stupid question. But… shit." He cut off his rambling with a shuddering breath, one hand rising to his chest. "Damn, man. You know?" His words were a whisper.

"Yeah," I agreed, easing up at the sight of his concern. "Since she doesn't talk, we have no idea how she got them. When we asked her if her mom did it, she shook her head and cried. The answer didn't exactly reassure me."

From the burning in his gaze, I could tell his thoughts were heading down the same track mine had gone when I saw Kinley's back the night before. "You think maybe her mom killed herself because-" He choked on the end of his sentence, saying no more. He didn't need to spell it out, anyway.

Crossing my arms over my chest, I leaned against a tree trunk to my left. Looking casual and feeling tense as fuck. "I don't know. It's possible. But we have no idea. We haven't been told anything. All we know is that Kinley has no other family except us and that her mom hanged herself in front of her. Next chance I get, I'm asking more about it, though, don't you worry."

"We need to learn more."

I wanted to thank him for being Captain Obvious, but I held back. She was his imprint. He was worried. He wanted her to be okay, and he wanted to deal with whoever made her _not_ okay. I could understand this. So instead, I took a deep breath to keep calm. "We do. And I plan to. But it won't happen overnight. More important than anything is making sure she is alright now. We can't change her past, as much as we wish we could."

I heard the heavy breath that escaped his nostrils as his shoulders slumped. "I just want to help her."

I nodded. "I know."

"So did she have marks anywhere else?" he asked.

Watching him closely, I said, "Not that we've seen. It all seemed very focused, probably in an effort to keep it from exposure. It wasn't thoughtless beating." Even I winced at that last sentence.

Embry's voice was pained. "She's going to heal."

"She is," I agreed.

"She's going to be just fine. She _will_."

"She will," I agreed again, letting him have his moment.

He cleared his throat. Shuffled his feet a little bit. Then said, "I guess that's all we've got for now? Until we know more, at least?"

"Unfortunately. But until we can do something about who hurt her - if we even _can_ , considering if it was her mother we'll never be able to do anything - we'll focus on taking care of her. Help her through this." I saw his eyes darken at the thought of not being able to do anything if her mother were the culprit, but I didn't comment any more on that topic and neither did he. "Come back tomorrow sometime. I'm sure she'd love to see you."

His lips quirked. "No offense, Sam, but I'd planned on stopping by tomorrow regardless of whether I got an invitation or not."

I smiled. "Figured. But now you have an invite. So be there."

And with that, we parted ways. The house was dark and quiet when I got home, save for a few small lights on throughout, more so than usual for Kinley. Assuming Emily was in bed, I toed off my shoes near the door along with the others in that area and headed upstairs as noiselessly as I could - which was pretty much silent. Only another wolf would be able to hear my steps. As I passed the guest room we had Kinley in, I paused, listening for her breathing just to check on her. I expected to hear the deep breaths of sleep.

But then her breath hitched, and the barest whimper seeped out. I didn't wait. I immediately eased her door open, keeping quiet so as not to scare her. She was facing the door, and she saw me the moment I looked in, her big green eyes wide and full of tears. For what felt like the hundredth time since Kinley showed up, my heart broke. She was so small and sad and all I wanted to do was help her be happy. She deserved better than these tears and sorrow.

Moving into the room, I knelt next to her, lifting a hand to smooth her hair. "You okay, baby girl?"

Dumb question. And she seemed to know it, too, as she simply stared at me.

"Having trouble sleeping?" Another dumb question, since she obviously was not asleep, but it was better than nothing.

Apparently she agreed that this was a better question to ask because she answered by nodding. Through all this, her gaze remained intent on my face, latching on as if to ward away something she didn't want in her vision. Which led me to wonder exactly how her mother's suicide went down. Could she have maybe waited until Kinley was asleep before doing it, leaving the small girl to awaken to that sight? Or maybe it was late at night when she did the deed, Kinley prepared for sleep - or even halfway to unconsciousness? Hell, maybe it was neither of those things and the memory of what she saw weighed on her mind no matter what time of day it was.

Whatever the answer, it didn't matter. Not right then. What _did_ matter was helping Kinley right now. She needed to relax. She needed to sleep. She needed to feel safe. So I asked, "Do you want to come sleep in bed with me and Emily?" When she stared at me for a minute deliberating, I added, "Emily can sometimes be a blanket hog, but I think we can take her. Two against one."

Kinley's eyes cleared a smidge, and she sat up, holding her arms out to me. Without hesitation, I swung her into my arms and took her to the room I shared with Emily. Now _Emily's_ breaths were even, though not quite heavy enough to sound asleep. On her way, though, so I tiptoed exaggeratedly with Kinley to the bed, making her eyes lighten a bit.

Just as I was about to place her in the middle of the bed, Emily rolled over. "Samuel, you are so not subtle." Her eyes caught on Kinley and she smiled. "Hey, honey. You bunking with us tonight?"

Arms clutching tighter around my neck, as if she worried she'd get in trouble, Kinley gave a shy nod.

Emily didn't stop smiling as she lifted the blanket for me to slide Kinley in. "Awesome. Sam tries to hog the covers, but with your help I think we can hold our own."

Kinley gave a short giggle, causing Emily's eyes to fly to mine in wonder. We shared a happy glance before I said, "Don't let her fool you, baby, Emily's the hog. She'll curl up with the entire blanket over there and leave me shivering over on this side of the bed. It's sad, really."

While she got Kinley settled, Emily said, "Oh, hush up."

I took my place on the bed, Kinley between Emily and me. "I'm taking that as admitting I'm the one in the right here." Kinley peeked over and we shared a look that said she was totally on my side in this debate.

Emily laughed. "Whatever you say. Now be quiet so we can get to sleep sometime tonight."

All three of us snuggled in under the covers, we settled down. Emily was the first to drift off to sleep. When she did, I looked over at Kinley. She was so tiny. Completely dwarfed in between Em and me. But she didn't look uncomfortable with it. She just seemed… uncertain. Like she loved where she was at right now, but she didn't know how long it'd last or if she actually belonged here.

Lifting an arm, I pulled over over to me, cuddling her into my side. "Come here, baby girl. You're safe. We've got you now, and we're going to take care of you. You can relax and sleep and everything will be just fine. All right?" She studied me for a few seconds, searching my face for evidence my words were true. When this kept on without a response, I said, "You need to get some sleep. You'll be perfectly alright exactly where you are. And Embry told me he was going to stop by tomorrow. So the sooner you fall asleep…"

Playing the Embry card was clearly a good idea because her eyes not only lost all of the sadness they'd been harboring, but they also lightened. She nodded before snuggling into my side, head on my shoulder and my arm around her. While she dozed off, I felt even more certain that I had early during my chat with Embry that this imprint was nothing to get frustrated over. It was good for her. And while I knew the happiness to her eyes would come and go for now, I had high hopes that someday - hopefully in the not so distant future - her smiles would come easily. That she wouldn't doubt her place here with us. That she'd be happy without restraint.

For now, however, we'd have to take whatever small victories we could get. I could live with that. Of course I could live with that. The little girl - my baby sister - was tucked into my side, breaths even, mind far away in her own dreamland. She was comfortable with me. That was more than enough at the moment. Soon enough, she'd move from simply feeling comfortable to feeling safe. And with that progression would come more.

Falling into sleep myself, I tightened my arm around her slightly. She was right where she needed to be, and she'd be alright.

We'd all make sure of it.

* * *

 **Thank you for reading! :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Thank you so much to everyone who has favorited, followed, and reviewed! I am so grateful for you all! :)**

 **SimplyMe (Guest): Thank you for your reviews! I see exactly what you mean, and I fixed chapter three. Sometimes things like that escape my notice. Thanks for reading, and I hope you continue to enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own _Twilight_ , but wouldn't it be cool if I did? Everything familiar in this story belongs to Stephenie Meyer, and everything else in this story (like Kinley and the plot) belong to little ole me.**

* * *

 **Chapter Five**

 ** _Sam's POV_**

A small body thrashing at my side woke me up. Weak whimpers filled the room, and I sat up with a start. Looking over to the other end of the bed, I saw Emily going through the same motions. Our eyes met, and then in unison we shifted our gazes down to the young girl between us.

Kinley was rolling back and forth, hands slapping at the air. Mumbles fell from her lips, releasing no actual words. Her face was so distraught. Hurt. Scared.

My heart shattered.

Gently, I pressed my hand to her shoulder and shook her, just the barest bit. She was already so afraid. The last thing I wanted to do was add to it, or accidentally harm her. But she needed to wake up. Leaving her in such a horrid dream would be cruel.

"Kinley," I murmured in the most soothing voice I could manage. She still moved, but it was less frantic now. I shook her a little more firmly. "Kinley, baby. Wake up. You're okay, baby girl, just wake up."

With a gasp that hitched two painful times, Kinley's eyes flew open. She went completely still, eyes wide and terrified, but also...resigned? As if waking up was a surrender. Her gaze found me, and I was faced head on with that expression. It took everything in me not to flinch.

"Kinley," I whispered, reaching out to pull her to me. She was stiff at first, but once she was settled against my chest, she relaxed. "It's okay. It's okay."

I don't know if she was in shock at first of what, but she started crying then. The most heartbreaking sounds were leaking out of her while her tears wet my chest. My focus was centered on the little girl in my embrace, but I caught Emily silently moving out of the room from the corner of my eye. When she came back, Kinley and I hadn't moved. She was still held against me, one of my hands soothing her back as she cried.

"Kinley, honey," Emily said. My sister flinched slightly, but looked up with puffy eyes. "Here, drink this." She tried to hand a cup of what looked like hot chocolate to Kinley, but the small girl's hand was shaking so bad, she almost spilled it all over the bed.

Keeping one hand firmly around Kinley, I grabbed the cup. "Come on, little girl," I said softly. "I'll help you drink some of this." She didn't resist, actually seeming kind of eager. So she liked this. Good to know. From the way Emily's gaze was on us, I knew she was taking not of this, as well. When the cup was nearly empty, I handed it back to Emily and wrapped my other arm back around Kinley. As much as I wanted to simply comfort her and not press her on anything, I had to at least ask about this.

"You okay, baby girl?" I asked quietly.

Her eyelids drooped, but she appeared to be fighting her drowsiness. Bad sign. If she was too afraid to go back to sleep, this was even worse than I thought. We definitely had to talk about this. She nodded anyway, though it was sadly obvious she was not okay. Not at all.

My grasp on her tightened a smidge in an attempt to make her feel more safe. "Can you tell me what your nightmare was about?"

Regardless of my hold on her, she went rock solid. And then she started to shake again. Her head whipped back and forth, one of her cheeks hitting my chest in the process. She kept her eyes open wide now, drowsiness no match for her.

I smoothed a hand down her hair lightly. "Talking about it might make you feel better." Or I hoped it would, at least. I wasn't exactly a professional in this area. But she just kept shaking her head, making it obvious I had to try a new tactic. "What if I ask you specific questions?" I offered. "They'll be yes or no, and then we'll at least get a better idea of what's bothering you. Can you do that?"

She pulled back a little, her gaze sweeping over my face. And then she nodded.

Good, good. This was good. Now what to ask her? Maybe the most obvious question… "Do you have nightmares about your mother?"

Her head tipped to the side, as if asking me to elaborate. Which probably meant yes, but with some kind of qualification. "Did she hurt you?"

The question barely left my mouth before she was shaking her head no. It was a firm shake, and her eyes met mine right after, solidifying her answer. So she probably _did_ have nightmares about her mother, but anything within them didn't have to do with her harming Kinley. They were about her suicide… and maybe something else, too…

"Do you dream about someone else hurting you?" I paused. "And hurting your mom, too?"

The slightest tinge of fear laced her eyes, but she didn't hesitate to nod. We'd been worrying about the wrong thing. My mind was moving, connecting dots. I didn't know much for sure yet, but I had to be figuring out at least some of it. Someone hurt Kinley and her mother. Whoever it was still haunts Kinley. And her mother killed herself as a result - or maybe she didn't kill herself at all. It was possible whoever hurt the girls murdered her mother to make it appear like a suicide. We definitely needed to look into this.

But not right now. Something - some _one_ \- was more important to take care of at that exact moment. "Alright, that's enough questions. Why don't we lay back down and get some sleep? We've got a few hours." _More than just a few_ , I thought, glancing at the clock next to the bed that said 1:30. We couldn't have been asleep for long. I wondered if she'd woken up like that the night before, too. We had to keep a close eye on her. She was ours to take care of now. She didn't need to wake up from nightmares terrified and deal with it by herself. Hell to the no. I'd help her through it, Emily would help her through it - she'd never go through it alone again.

But she resisted. Looking down at her fingers tracing little patterns on my shoulder, she shook her head. I waited for her to meet my eyes again, but she didn't even peek up.

"Come on," I said softly. "We'll be with you. You'll be okay, I promise."

Another head shake.

Suddenly, Emily stood. "I have an idea. I'll be right back." And then she strode from the room, on a mission. She was as devoted to helping my sister as I was, and I loved her endlessly for it. As I sat there holding Kinley, I heard my imprint murmuring into the phone downstairs. My hearing wasn't advanced enough to make out who she was talking to, but I had a guess.

And I had no doubt he'd be there soon.

* * *

 ** _Embry's POV_**

A little after one in the morning and I just could _not_ fall back asleep. I'd woken a few minutes ago for no reason at all, and now I could do nothing more than stare at the ceiling, wide awake. Probably had something to do with the overload of the day. I mean, I had an imprint! And I'd actually found her. I'd always hoped I would cross paths with mine someday, but _today_ , in Sam's kitchen? Unexpected. And oh so lucky.

She was young, but that was okay. Not like I was getting any older. And she was sad, but that was okay, too. I'd be here when things started looking up. The most important thing of all was that I'd found her, and now we had each other. Always.

She'd even knocked some sense into Paul. Surely he'd still act like an asshole, but at least he acted a little better for her. I even got the feeling he liked her. It wasn't every day Paul played so nice. He was good with Claire, but I could already tell he liked Kinley better. I'd be lying if I said that didn't make me kind of happy - it just added to the ways Kinley was special.

My phone began ringing, dragging me away from thoughts of my imprint. A quick glance at the caller ID told me it was Emily, and I wasted no time in answering it after I saw. Was everything alright with Kinley?

And that was exactly how I answered the phone. "Is Kinley okay?"

Emily let out the weakest short laugh I'd ever heard from her. "She's okay." Something in her voice had me disbelieving her, and I began to get dressed. No way was I staying away when my imprint was not okay. "But can you come over? She had a nightmare and we're trying to get her back to sleep…" Her voice trailing off indicated that their efforts weren't exactly getting results.

"Of course," I said, without hesitation. "I'll be right over." I didn't wait for her to say anything else, instead just ending the call immediately and searching for my keys. It would probably have been quicker to run in my wolf form, but I didn't want to get sidetracked by whoever might be patrolling or have to deal with getting undressed and then dressed again. Just less of a hassle to drive there like a normal person.

Well, "like a normal person" was probably stretching it, considering I broke at least ten different traffic laws getting to Sam's place. But what was I supposed to do? My imprint needed me.

Emily opened the door, not appearing surprised in the slightest that I'd gotten there so quickly. She moved aside, allowing me entry and I walked inside. I took no time at all finding Kinley - she and Sam were on the couch, almost exactly how they were when I saw her for the first time. Only right now there was a blanket wrapped around her, her head was resting on his chest drowsily, and they were on the opposite end of the couch. Her head lolled in its position, and I saw how her eyes remained open solely due to sheer will. Poor thing looked tired but wouldn't let herself doze off.

When I stepped into the doorway, her head snapped up. She was completely silent and still for a moment.

And then she let out a happy squeal and reached for me.

My heart clenched, and I crossed the room and took her in my arms a second later. Other than her crying earlier, this was the first noise she'd made. It was happy. And it was for _me_. I couldn't help but smile a tiny bit as I hugged her close. Sitting on the opposite end of the couch from Sam - where he and Kinley had been when I saw her for the first time - I rubbed her back. "So you had a nightmare?"

She peeked up at me with wide, fearful eyes, nodding.

"And now you don't want to go back to sleep?"

She started nodding, but paused. A moment later, she shrugged. I looked over at Sam and Emily and saw that this answer was much more promising than however she'd responded to them earlier.

"How about if I stay? We can stay right here and I won't go anywhere."

Kinley studied me intently, searching my face for any ounce of dishonesty. But I meant it. If she wanted me to stay here with her all night while she slept, I'd be here. As long as she wanted me, I wasn't leaving. Finally, she gave a slight nod and then hugged me _so tight_ , clutching me for all she was worth. If that didn't tell me how desperate she was for me to stay, nothing would. I shifted in my seat, reclining a tad. I tried to adjust Kinley so she'd be more comfortable, but she refused to budge from how she rested against me - arms around me tight, faced pressed into my neck - so I left her as she was and stroked a hand down her hair, and then down her back. I kept doing this for a while, until her breathing was completely even and her weight was solid against me. Asleep.

Glancing up at Sam and Emily, who were both seated at the other end of the couch holding hands and keeping an eye on me and Kinley, I saw their relief. I could only imagine what it must have been like. I only knew the bare minimum, but I was sure the entire situation hadn't been pretty.

I had to know, though… "What happened?" I asked as quietly as I could. Kinley was out cold, but I didn't want to chance waking her.

Sam sighed, sliding closer with Emily so we could whisper and all still hear each other - since Emily had regular human hearing. "She was moving around in her sleep. Rolling, thrashing. It was terrible." I pictured Kinley struggling, battling a nightmare only she could see. It was a painful illustration. "So we woke her up, and Emily gave her some hot chocolate. Turns out Kinley loves it, by the way." I stored that little factoid to memory. "And then I asked her about it."

When he didn't immediately offer up any and all information, I prompted, "And? Did she tell you anything?"

He nodded, rubbing his hands over one of Emily's. She seemed shaken up, but also determined. Made me happy to know my girl had this kind of support. And it made me even happier thinking about how much _more_ she'd have once the pack grew more comfortable with her. She'd be surrounded by love and laughs and the darkness of her past that haunted her sleep would be nothing but a painful memory. She'd always miss her mother, but she'd have an entire family around her to show her the good in life. She'd be alright. We just had to get her through this.

"We were wrong," Sam said. "Her mother isn't the one that hurt her, and that isn't why she killed herself."

I got the feeling he expected me to be surprised by his words, but I wasn't. This was actually a good thing for a few reasons. Kinley didn't have to live with the knowledge that her mother abused her. Someone _had_ , obviously, but it was not her mother, the one person she was supposed to be able to trust above all others. Plus, this meant Kinley's abuser wasn't dead for certain and we could track the bastard down.

Based on Sam's expression, I could tell his thoughts were going in the same direction. "So we were wrong," I said with a small shrug, careful not to jar my slumbering imprint. "Then we have some investigating to do."

A grim smile lifted the corners of Sam's lips. "Yes. We do. We'll start tomorrow."

I nodded, returning his smile with a weak one of my own before looking down at Kinley. We'd find whoever hurt her. And we'd take care of her. We'd make sure no one ever hurt her again. She had us now, all of us.

Kinley stirred a little in her sleep, so I pressed a soft kiss to her hair. She settled right away.

Yeah, I'd find her abuser. I'd keep Kinley safe. I'd help her find happiness again.

Hell, I'd do anything for this girl.

* * *

 **Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey, everybody! So sorry I've taken so long to update this! I'm getting closer and closer to the end of the semester, so I've had so much work to do. But this week is my last week, so I'm back!**

 **Thank you so much to everyone who has read, favorited, followed, and reviewed my story. I appreciate you all and your words so much!**

 **SheWolf86: I actually hadn't thought about her shifting. Maybe? Maybe not? In my mind, she didn't, but I'm considering it now. At the moment, my focus is on what's currently happening in their story. Finding out her past and...stuff. (Don't want to give it all away! Haha) But MAYBE. She might not, though. We shall see! I'm glad you're enjoying!**

 **Disclaimer: As cool as it would be if I did, I actually do _not_ own _Twilight_. That, along with everything familiar in this story, belongs to Stephenie Meyer. Everything else in this story does belong to me, though. So yay for that!**

* * *

 **Chapter Six**

 ** _Sam's POV_**

Sleep was virtually impossible after Emily and I went back up to bed. She dozed, and I held her in my arms, but I remained awake. My mind kept rolling, trying to solve the mystery of Kinley's life. Clearly, I had to contact whomever that horrid woman that dropped her off was and ask some questions. And if she didn't give me answers that could help, I'd keep searching until I found someone who did. Obviously they didn't put much merit to Kinley's welfare - both before and after her mother's death. I'd expected some sort of background check or _something_ when they put her in mine and Emily's care.

I was wrong. They asked no questions, except whether or not I was willing to take her in. That was it. No making sure we were okay, nothing. Simply because we were listed as siblings somewhere in the system. Kinley would be great with us, but I hoped to all that was holy they took better care of other children they placed with new people.

And if they showed no care with Kinley's living conditions after her mother's death, they definitely never began to consider she may have had a negative experience before. Which was crazy, considering her mother took her own life. Wouldn't that give off warning bells?

Something wasn't right. We just had to figure out what, and then deal with it. Maybe then Kinley's mind could be more at ease. Maybe then Kinley could sleep through the night without waking in a terror.

That was what I hoped, at least.

When the barest light of dawn began to brighten the sky through the window, I slowly slid out of bed, careful not to wake Em. Before heading into the kitchen, I peeked in on Kinley and Embry. The sight of them had a smile tugging at my lips.

Embry was now stretched across the couch, legs hanging off at the end since he was so damn tall. I could relate. Kinley was curled into his chest, his arm folded around her. She nuzzled peacefully into his shirt, face pressed to his neck. His nose was buried in her hair, as if he'd fallen asleep in the midst of kissing her head. The comfort they clearly had with each other already gave me more hope that we'd be able to help Kinley.

Spurred by that thought, I moved into the kitchen to start some coffee. I had a couple more hours before I could call anyone and actually get an answer, but that didn't mean I could plan out who I'd contact, specifically what I'd say, and whatever else. I wanted to get this figured out and dealt with as soon as possible. The sooner we made things right, the sooner Kinley could move on.

Or that was what my mind had convinced me of. I needed a purpose, a decided method with which I'd help my new found baby sister. I'd failed her already, but I would not fail her again.

When the clock was a hair away from eight in the morning, Emily breezed into the kitchen, stooping to give me a peck on the cheek before grabbing her own coffee. "What are you up to?" she asked softly, apparently having taken note of the two sleeping imprints in the living room.

"Preparing," I said vaguely, knowing she'd deduce what I was preparing _for_ without a problem. There weren't any other issues really going on in the pack at the moment. Sure, sometimes a vampire ended up nearby that we had to take care of, but that wasn't anything that demanded loads of time. The Cullens had settled, and while they still had their home in Forks, at least they were tame over there. I liked them as much as the next wolf, but I had to admit that there were worse things that could be living in the next town over.

Though maybe it was more accurate to say that there were worse "people" that could be living in the next town over. The Cullens were civilized. Polite. Okay. Sort of.

But then there was the fact that they drank blood, and that just messed up that whole thought process, didn't it?

Emily's face turned fierce, and she said, "I hope this all gets taken care of soon." I felt a swell of pride at my beautiful imprint. This wasn't the first time she'd shown how much she already cared for my sister, and I knew it wouldn't be the last, but every single time without fail it hit me straight in the chest. I loved her so much.

I smiled at her. "I'm sure we will."

She didn't look entirely convinced, but she faked it well enough as she stirred a bunch of sugar into her coffee. Emily was more of a tea drinker, except for when she first woke up. One cup of coffee in the morning to get her going, and that was that.

Gathering the pad of paper in front of me, my phone, and my own mug of coffee, I set out for the back porch to begin making my phone calls. Just after eight in the morning was early, but I'd be damned if I wasn't dead set on getting started right away.

First up was a phone call to whatever her fucking name was. It was on the card I'd been given, but since I thought she was a bitch who needed to find a job better suited for her cold, uncaring nature, I made it a point to not remember it. I remained respectful when talking to her, but I never used her name. Small rebellion, but it worked for me.

Unsurprisingly, I was met with an answering machine. Of course she wouldn't get to work at this hour. Only people absolutely obligated got into work this early. Or, you know, people who gave a shit about their work. The message I left would hopefully get her moving, though: "Hello, ma'am, this is Sam Uley. You dropped off my sister Kinley Uley the other day, and I have a few questions. If you could please get back to me as soon as you get this message, I'd really appreciate it. You'd be saving me loads of time from having to contact your supervisor. Talk to you soon." Boring, simple, and a threat I didn't work hard to veil. Surely she'd realize that she was slacking on her job. I could file so many complaints against her. The woman's manners, for one. Those were terrible. Her speed to get out of here, for another. She rushed through the information. The way she treated Kinley, also. I had no doubt if I looked, I'd be able to find a bruise of three from the woman's fingers on my sister's arm.

Apparently aware of the trouble I could get her in, the woman called me back less than ten minutes later, leading me to suspect she was at the office when I called, but chose to ignore phone calls. Didn't she have a secretary? Maybe they quit. That would have surprised me. "Mr. Uley," she said. "What can I do to help you today?" Her words were polite but her voice was icy.

In the most intimidating voice I could manage over the phone, I replied, "I would like to know everything there is to know about Kinley's life before you sent her to me."

She scoffed, and I knew if she were in front of me right then, she'd have been sneering. "I'm sorry, but I can't do that. Those kinds of records are confidential." She didn't sound sorry in the slightest.

And I was calling her on her bull. "You can't inform her new guardian of her previous situation so he can accommodate accordingly?"

She paused, as if searching her mind for another excuse. Was I actually allowed to all the information I asked for? I had no clue. But I was getting it no matter what. "Mr Uley," she began, her tone placating now. As if she was trying to calm down a frantic child. "I am very busy, and I have many cases to oversee. I simply do not a have time to search through all the information I have just to fulfill your curiosity of what your sister's life was like. I recommend asking her. It'd save us all time."

Fury rolled through my body and I thanked the lucky stars she wasn't in front of me. Hers, because she would have gotten her neck wrung. And mine because I didn't hit women, so that would have not been a very good moment. _I recommend asking her_. Was she that stupid? She was the one who informed us Kinley hadn't spoken in the first place. Now she wanted me to ask the little girl for answers? She wanted me to ask her about things I didn't want her to dwell on? That she was already having nightmares about? Hell. No. Hell to the motherfucking _no._

Hard as I tried, I couldn't refrain from raising my voice. "I don't care. You will look up the information. You will get it all to me. And you will this _as soon as earthly possible_. Do you understand me?" A growl weaved into my words, making them all the more frightening.

And it worked. "I-I…" she stuttered. "I suppose I can have my secretary put it all together for you?" Amazing how even while she was fearful, she still managed to infuse her voice with some bitchiness. But I didn't care as long as I got the information I wanted.

"That's fine." We exchanged a few more words about how to get it to me and when - as if _as soon as earthly possible_ was a confusing concept. Finally, that was sorted, and we hung up. For now, all I could do was wait. I had more plans if this one fell through, but I hoped this could be it. The odds seemed in my favor, since the woman didn't care very much. Not about the children or what her job did. All she was worried about was keeping it so she could make the money. Understandable. Bitchy, considering her work was helping children, or that was the goal anyway, but understandable. We all needed to eat. A place to live. Didn't mean I didn't still hate her, though.

Collecting my materials, coffee cup now empty, I moved back into the house. After dropping my coffee cup into the kitchen sink and shoving the paper into a drawer, I headed back over to check on Kinley.

Instead of sleeping like an angel on Embry's chest, she was now propped up, eyes intent on his face. The wonder within them reminded me of how I felt whenever I looked at Emily. Knowing Kinley was feeling that - though she definitely didn't grasp the full effect of it quite yet - eased the worry simmering in my gut. We'd help her out, we'd make sure she was okay. But she also had that extra assurance of an imprint. She'd never be alone. She'd always have somebody. I'd never leave her, nor would Emily, but the surety of Embry was on a whole different level. No one had to convince her of it, for the truth was there. It was obvious. It was in the way they looked at each other. And though I wasn't a mind reader, I could hazard a guess based on my knowledge of imprints and the emotion in her eyes right at that moment and say it was in the way she felt. She could resist, she could question it, but the truth would prevail.

So wrapped up in studying her imprint, it took Kinley a moment to realize I was standing in the doorway. She tipped her head up slowly, eyes landing on me. The light expression staring back at me solidified everything I'd just observed. This imprint was turning out to be so good for her. This imprint would continue to be good for her.

Kinley was going to be just fine.

* * *

 _Embry's POV_

I awoke slowly, wanting to stay sleeping but unable to...for some reason. As my consciousness slugged its way back to working, I became aware of a tiny body pressed to mine. My first reaction was confusion. Since when did I have other people sleep in my bed? Since when did I sleep with other people _at all?_ I was preparing to edge away from whomever it was when reality slammed back into my brain.

 _My imprint_.

At that thought, my eyes snapped open, and I took her in. So young. So fragile. She'd been afraid. She'd needed me so I could sleep. Turned out, she helped me sleep, too. Now that I was fully waking up, it was becoming obvious that last night's sleep was better than any I'd had in awhile. Maybe even ever. Which was shocking considering Sam and Emily had to own the smallest damn couch in La Push.

Okay, okay. Maybe I was just too big. But still.

Looking up at Kinley, I saw her locked in a staredown with her brother. Neither of them were letting off hostile vibes, so I assumed it was a goodnatured thing. Maybe a sibling thing? That'd be cool. I was sure Kinley would love having a brother, once she solidified herself in the actual realization that she truly _had_ one now. She didn't talk, but I could tell that sometimes she felt overwhelmed by all this. Not in a bad way, but in a way that made it hard for her to believe she could get so lucky.

We'd take care of that in no time.

I was about to jostle her or say something, anything so that she and Sam would break eye contact and we could all move on with our day, but Emily strode into the room and beat me to it. "I'm about to start breakfast. Kinley, would you like to join me?"

Snapped out of it, Kinley's gaze shifted over to her. The briefest of hesitations followed - it was barely noticeable, really - and then she nodded. She looked down at me next and while she didn't smile, her eyes twinkled.

Yeah, we were making progress.

She patted my head as she rose, which I had to admit was really fucking cute. Emily led her out of the room, and I watched, appearing like a stunned idiot, I was sure. But I didn't care. I was on cloud nine. She was my imprint. My _imprint_.

Now it was Sam's turn to snap me out of it, which he did with a sharp, " _Embry_."

The small dose of alpha command in the name had my head turning to him right away. "Yes?"

He crossed his arms over his chest, leaning against the doorjamb in a casual manner. The words that left his mouth next were in complete contrast to his demeanor. "I called that woman today. The one who brought Kinley here."

Interest piqued, I sat up, running a hand over my head in an effort to control the raging mess my hair surely was. Or maybe I should leave it? Maybe it'd make Kinley laugh. My hand fell back down. "And?"

"Her secretary is gathering information. They'll get it to me soon." His eyes drifted over my hair, and the corner of his mouth twitched. Yeah, I was definitely leaving like this.

Pushing up to standing, I nodded. "Okay. Let me know what they send."

"I will," he agreed.

We both moved to the kitchen then, off the topic for now. All we could do was wait for that secretary to get us what we needed to know. No reason to dwell in the meantime.

The moment I stepped into the room, Kinley peeked over at me from where she satat the table, watching Emily cook at the stove and chatter at her. Her eyes took me in, going up and landing on my hair. She watched with no expression for a second, and then the most adorable little smile came over her face. A quiet giggle cut through Emily's words, and we all focused on Kinley.

She watched me with that small smile as she giggled away at my messy hair. Walking over to her, I made her giggle a little harder by shaking my hair at her, tickling her forehead.

My heart warmed, and I decided right then that if all I did in life was protect this girl and make her happy, make her smile and laugh, then I'd live a damn good life. Because honestly, was there anything better than this?

I doubted it.

* * *

 **Thank you so much for reading! I hope you liked it! :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**I'm back! So sorry for how long I've been gone, but I am here! With a new username. Heh. And I've got another chapter for you! So yeah, I'll leave you to read it. I hope you like it! :)**

* * *

 **Chapter Seven**

 ** _Sam's POV_**

As Kinley's guardians, Emily and I had the task of getting her enrolled in school. She was in first grade, since she was turning seven in January. I wasn't sure how much time she'd missed since her mother's death and her move here, but I definitely didn't want her missing any more than she already had. So Kinley, Emily, and I packed into my truck and rode on over to La Push Elementary School. Kinley still hadn't spoken - which was something we were worried about regarding school. How would the teacher know if something was wrong? Would Kinley be made uncomfortable or get bullied because of her silence? God, I hoped not. The last thing she needed was more negativity in her life. She deserved so much better.

Her face gave nothing away as we drove over, just staring ahead and watching the road along with me as she sat in between Em and me. I kept an eye on her the entire way there, and then walking into the school, and I knew Emily was doing the same. At what point would all of this become too much? She'd been handling everything well, considering the circumstances.

In the school's main office, the receptionist asked us to take a seat while she gathered all the necessary paperwork, so Emily and I chose a couple of chairs while I pulled Kinley onto my lap. The little girl sat tense. It was the only sign she was feeling anything about this trip.

"You okay?" I whispered, leaning around so she could easily turn her head and meet my eyes.

She blinked down at the floor before glancing over at me and nodding.

"You don't have to be nervous," I told her. "We'll make sure you're okay."

She nodded again, this time focusing on her hands in her lap.

The receptionist got our attention and handed the papers on a clipboard to Emily with a pen. My imprint got to filling out what she could, but that wasn't much. So I took over, putting the clipboard on Kinley's lap. "Hold this while I write?" I asked, hoping enlisting her help would aid in keeping her calm.

I filled in most of where Emily couldn't, though there was still some places blank. I hated that. We were her guardians now, this was stuff we were supposed to know.

After taking the papers back to the receptionist, she told us she'd input the information and get Kinley enrolled, contacting her previous school for transcripts. Luckily, technology made the wait for that small, so we stuck around until that was sorted and a class could be assigned to Kinley.

"Alright," the lady said, "she's in Mrs. Pearlman's class. If you'd like, you can go visit the classroom and meet her teacher real quick. It'd have to be a short meeting, since school is still in session, but I'm sure a hello would be fine."

She had barely finished offering before Emily was nodding enthusiastically. "We'd love to."

We were given visitor badges and directions to room 103. Emily led the way, a woman on a mission, while Kinley and I followed behind hand in hand. Her tiny fingers clutched mine tight enough I started to feel a little pinch, but I didn't mention it. She could squeeze the life out of my hand all she wanted if it helped her get through this.

Outside of room 103, Emily paused. The door was open, and a friendly voice could be heard inside, talking about numbers. After a second, Em shrugged and stepped into the doorway, knocking lightly on the open door. The voice inside stopped, and then said, "Hello."

"Hi," Emily greeted with a smile. "I'm Emily Uley, and this is my husband Sam." She motioned for me and Kinley to step into sight. "And this is Kinley. She's starting in your class tomorrow and we just wanted to say a quick hello."

I took a quick look at the teacher, a kind-faced woman with light brown hair who was now smiling softly at my little sister. Then I focused on Kinley, who was doing her best to monkey cling to my leg. Sensing her unease, I reached down and lifted her up. Her clinging switched from my leg to my neck, but at least she was peeking over at the teacher. That was a hopeful sign, right?

Mrs. Pearlman walked over to us. "Hello, Kinley, I'm Mrs. Pearlman. We're going to have lots of fun learning this year."

Kinley eyed the woman's smile, uncertainty clear on her features as she nodded.

Emily's face filled with worry. "Can I speak to you for just a moment?" Obviously she was going to alert the teacher of Kinley's silence.

"Of course, if you could keep an eye on the children, Mr. Uley?"

I smiled. "Sure." The kids were coloring on pages with big numbers on them. Couldn't be too hard watching them for a minute. Stepping farther into the room, I found a chair and sat down with Kinley. "Look, they're coloring. Wouldn't you like to color with them?"

She didn't answer, but instead kept her arms around my neck. Her negative response to this situation was making me uneasy. Tomorrow, she was going to be here all day by herself. She wouldn't have me to cling to, as much as I loathed that fact. We'd have to chat with her and make her more comfortable.

Later. For now, I held her in my arms as we observed the children. A little boy kept throwing glances our way. I caught his eye and smiled. He apparently took this as an invitation to walk over. "Hey mister, what are you doing here?"

"Me and Kinley are here to meet your teacher. She's in your class now; she'll start tomorrow."

He squinted. "Are you her daddy?"

The moment the question left his mouth, Kinley locked up. I tightened my arms around her in response, searching for an answer. She wasn't comfortable with the question. I would have loved to answer it with yes - I was her father, Emily was her mother, and there was nothing out of the ordinary here, no sir. Her mother didn't die and her father wasn't a deadbeat asshole who got himself killed by his own stupidity.

But that wasn't reality. In the real world, those things were the opposite. I wasn't her father, I was her brother. And though I had no problem admitting that, I was hesitant to mark her as unordinary right off the bat. She'd already be a target due to her silence, and the last thing I wished to do was add to that.

Lady Luck was really shining on us that day because Mrs. Pearlman walked back in with Emily before I could formulate an answer. "Joseph," she said to the boy, "you know you're not supposed to be out of your seat. Go sit down." And just like that, the child moved away. Kinley slowly eased away from me a smidge, looking up to see her new teacher standing in front of us. "It was nice to meet you, Mr. Uley. And I'm looking forward to seeing you tomorrow, Kinley." Somehow, the woman's eyes were softer than they'd been before, and I knew she'd be a great teacher for Kinley.

We said our goodbyes and then headed outside, loading back up into my truck and going home. In the quiet, I thought about how in twenty-four hours, Kinley would be in that school with all of the other children. She'd be learning and hopefully doing well. Maybe it'd be good for her. She could make friends. Ease out of her shell.

My mind tried to stay on the optimistic track, but I knew she'd feel like a fish out of water. With how on edge she had been with Emily and me there, I could only imagine how much worse it'd be without us. I hated I had to push her into that, especially with all the changes she was already going through.

But that was the way it had to be. She needed to go to school. There was no way around it. And she was a strong girl. She would be okay.

I kept telling myself that while also trying to think of a way to maybe help Kinley deal better. It wasn't until later that night when a knock sounded on the door and Embry walked in that it hit me. _Of course_.

* * *

 ** _Embry's POV_**

After a long day spent away from Kinley, I finally made it over to Sam and Emily's place. Sam had mentioned they were enrolling her in school today, so I was looking forward to seeing how that went. I was a little nervous, too, honestly. Putting her into the hands of people I did not know for the entire day five days a week felt odd. But Kinley obviously had to go to school.

I tapped on the door a few times before letting myself in, guessing they wouldn't mind. Before Kinley moved in, we'd all done that every time we dropped by. We were aiming to make Kinley feel safe and comfortable now, though, so the rest of the guys waited to be let in before entering. I figured I could be an exception to that rule.

Stepping inside and closing the door behind me, I sensed my imprint in the living room. From the sound of it, Emily was in the kitchen and Sam was with Kinley. I considered heading in to talk to Emily first to get the scoop on how the school thing went, but I got the feeling I should join Kinley.

As I entered the living room, I was very glad I made that decision. Because the cutest little girl in on Earth looked up at me, blinked, and then beamed the brightest, most beautiful smile the world has ever seen.

That alone warmed my soul.

But it was what she did along with that smile that made my heart soar.

She stood up and ran over to me with open arms-while releasing a happy squeal.

A. Happy. Squeal. From Kinley. My imprint. The girl who had been mute since she arrived. Who'd lost her mother not too long ago in a brutal, horrifying way. She was happy enough to see me that she reacted like that.

Damn, I was lucky.

When she made it to me, I swept her up against my chest. "Hey, sweetheart. You have a good day?"

At my question, she got tense. I did the same in response, looking over at Sam for information. He was watching us with a faint smile on his face, clearly pleased. Apparently he'd missed my question. Sitting on the other end of the couch, I rested Kinley on my lap as I turned to ask Sam, "How'd today go?"

His smile faltered for a brief moment before returning as if nothing happened. I knew it had to be forced. "It went well. She's in and ready to start tomorrow. Em grabbed her some school supplies and a cute little backpack and everything. Her teacher's nice. It'll all be good." He seemed to be reassuring himself of that as much as he was telling me.

Peering down at Kinley, I asked, "You got a new backpack?"

Shyly, she nodded.

Widening my eyes innocently, I said, "I'd love to see it. Will you show it to me?"

Now she bit her lip. I almost retracted my request, since she appeared so reluctant to part with me even for a moment, but she nodded before I could follow through. Wiggling out of my arms, she was on the floor and out of the room.

"What's up?" I demanded quickly.

Sam shook his head. "I'm just worried. It did go well-she's in and her teacher seems friendly. But she's so nervous about going. She was squeezing my hand so damn hard earlier." He sighed. "You think you can give her a pep talk or something? Boost her spirits? If anyone can get through to her, I'm guessing it's you."

I didn't get the chance to respond before Kinley was bounding back into the room, tiny little backpack bouncing behind her, but obviously I'd do it. I watched as she spun around, displaying the pretty yellow flower adorning the white bag. Sparkles surrounded it, twinkling in the light. "Wow!" I exclaimed, exaggerating a bit for her benefit. "That is the best backpack ever. It's so pretty."

She giggled, turning back to face me. Pulling it off her back, she set it down in the seat next to me and tugged open the zipper. She withdrew a yellow pencil pouch, a composition notebook, and a yellow folder from within. Handing them all to me, she eyed me up carefully to catch my reactions to her school stuff.

Damn, she was adorable.

I went through everything she gave me, pulling out every pencil, crayon, and eraser in that pouch, ooo-ing and ahh-ing over all of it. She seemed pleased with my responses. Once I'd gotten through everything and we were tossing it all back into the bag, I asked her gently, "Are you nervous to go to school tomorrow?" Sam had left to help Emily in the kitchen, but I heard his movements in there stop at my question and I knew he was listening in.

Shifting on her feet, she gave a noncommittal shrug.

"You know," I said. "When I went to school, I was nervous, too."

Glancing over at me, she silently urged me to go on, obviously interested in what I had to say.

"Every year from when I started kindergarten through high school, I was always nervous when school started. What if nobody liked me? What if I couldn't understand what we were supposed to learn? There was always something to worry about. But you know what?"

Kinley blinked at me, and I took that as her asking, "What?"

Leaning forward, I pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. "It was always okay. The teachers are there to help you if you don't understand something. The other kids weren't so bad. Some of them even became my best friends, and they still are now. You know Jacob and Quil." I paused, raising my brows at her until she nodded. "I met them at school. I know it can be scary, but it _will_ be okay. And no matter what you've got me and Sam and Emily and the rest of...us here if you ever need anything. Alright?" I'd almost slipped up and said _the rest of the pack_ , which would have led us into a whole new conversation she was definitely not ready for quite yet. I think I recovered pretty well, though.

She seemed to contemplate my words for a few seconds, then nodded somewhat reluctantly. She was still nervous, but she heard what I said. That was all I could ask for. So I gave her a smile, crossing my fingers I'd get one back.

Kinley's lips had just barely tipped upward when Emily said from the doorway, "Time to eat, children."

I grinned and stood, waving Kinley ahead of me. "Ladies first."

As I followed Kinley past Emily to go to the kitchen, Emily whispered, "Thank you." I didn't look back to meet her eyes, but I couldn't avoid Sam's when I went to take my seat at the table. He sent me a subtle chin lift in gratitude. I rolled my eyes, not accepting any of their thanks. They had to know I'd do anything for Kinley. I wanted her to be happy, safe, and healthy, and I'd always do whatever I had to in order to make that happen.

Glancing over at Kinley as the picked at her food the best she could before peeking over at me for help. As I reached over to help her, I felt content.

Yeah. I'd do anything for this little girl.

* * *

 **Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed it!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hi, everybody! I just wanted to take a quick second for two things:**

 **1) Thank you all so much for reading. ESPECIALLY if you leave a review. Nothing is more encouraging or inspiring than a review. Thank you.**

 **2) Let you know that this story is nearing the end. I know it's short, but that was always my intent with this one. I wanted to dip my toes in fanfic and imprinting stories, and this was the one I started. I'm guessing this story will be around 11-15 chapters long. I WILL be writing more imprint stories, so that's something to look forward to? I'm excited. I've kept this story pretty basic (on purpose - it's been my first step into Twilight and imprinting ff) and I'm so looking forward to writing MORE. Including Cullens and Bella and more of the other pack members. Which pack member do you think I should write about? And how many of you like Bella bashing? (I want to take your opinions into consideration when deciding what to write next!)**

 **Alright, now that's enough of that monster A/N. Here's chapter eight!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to the Twilight series. Those belong to Stephenie Meyer. I DO own my original characters, though. Yay!**

* * *

 **Chapter Eight**

 ** _Sam's POV_**

The next day, Emily helped Kinley get ready for school as the sun was barely creeping above the horizon. In an exchange of roles that made Emily grant me a deep kiss while Kinley was brushing her teeth, I scrounged up breakfast for us. Nothing too elaborate - toast, scrambled eggs, and bacon - but the pleasure in my imprint's eyes made it beyond worth it.

Everything was ready on the table by the time my two favorite girls made it into the kitchen. I'd even had time to mix a glass of chocolate milk for Kinley. I vaguely wondered what had taken them so long, but then I caught a look a Kinley.

She was the most precious thing I'd ever seen.

A cute new outfit and hair done all nice - obviously their time getting ready had been spent well.

Even more than that, though, was the excitement on her face. It was still mixed with nerves, but I found the optimistic emotion accompanying it very promising. Definitely better than how she'd been yesterday.

We sat down and ate breakfast. Em and I talked about our days back when we were in school. Good memories to help boost Kinley's confidence. The entire moment was so surreal. Us three, a family. I could only imagine how much greater it would be once Kinley was comfortable enough for us to have the pack around all the time again. Our little family - plus the extended family of my brothers.

When we were done eating, Emily gathered the dishes and set them to soak in the sink, saying she'd wash them later.

Later...after Kinley was in school for the day.

We'd only had Kinley with us for a short amount of time, but I'd already gotten used to her being home. She was a fixture in my life. I came home not only to Emily, but also to Kinley. I wasn't looking forward to her being elsewhere all day where anything could happen. There could be an emergency. She could fall and hurt herself. The other kids could be mean to her. And I wouldn't be there to help.

I was working myself up, but I couldn't let Kinley know I was getting nervous now. I smiled as I helped her into my truck and she gave me a tentative one back. Yeah, no way could I ruin her high spirits. Instead, I kept my mouth shut as we drove over to the school, Emily assuring Kinley of anything she figured the little girl should know.

Before long, we were pulling into the parking lot. There was a loop around the front of the building for parents to drop students off, but I didn't feel up for that. I couldn't pull up and kick the girl out of the fucking car. Why would I do that? It was her first day. And she was only six years old. Hell no. I pulled into a parking spot instead, Emily glancing over at me with a knowing smile as I did.

Kinley looked kind of grateful that we planned to walk her in so I decided not to make any excuses aloud. I mean honestly, was it really so wrong that I wanted to make sure she got where she needed to go? And that she was settled in and happy on her first day?

Yeah, I didn't think so.

I kept a grip on Kinley's hand as we approached the front doors, Emily leading the way. Her knowing smile had evened into a smirk by this point and I had no doubt she could see right through me. She didn't seem to find any fault in it, though, so I continued keeping my mouth shut.

Just inside the doors there was a lady who clearly worked for a school who stepped in front of us, moving to lead Kinley away. "Oh, you don't need to do that. You can just let her out at the loop. Thanks for dropping her off." Her smile lacked malice but the fact that she was trying to make me part ways with Kinley before I was ready had me wanting to snarl. I held back the urge, of course, but I don't think the glare I was sending her way was anything but intimidating.

Emily drew the woman's attention to her by sticking out her hand. "Hi, I'm Emily Uley. This is my husband Sam and…" she hesitated for a brief moment before saying, "...and this is Kinley." We had to have a talk about that. Sure, Kinley wasn't technically our daughter but what was the harm in introducing her as such? So long as Kinley was comfortable with it, we'd be golden. I could tell Emily was itching to claim her as ours. Kinley was the only loose end on the matter. However, the conversation would probably have to wait until Kinley had been here longer. She was going through so much change already, I didn't want to add anything more.

But it'd definitely get discussed when the time was appropriate.

The woman shook Emily's hand and introduced herself, but I was more focused on Kinley's little hand in mine. She'd seemed more at ease this morning and on the way here, but her hand was clutching mine for dear life now. Her nerves were making a reappearance.

"It's not customary for parents to enter the building with their children," the woman was telling Emily and I snapped my attention up. "I'm sure she can get where she needs to go. And if she needs help, a faculty member would be glad to provide it."

Emily's expression was a mix of determined and apologetic. "It's her first day."

The woman seemed somewhat exasperated by this point. "Yes, but-"

"We'll just walk her to her room, say hello to her teacher, and leave," I said, cutting her off. There was no way I was getting talked out of this. The small girl was clinging hard to my hand and I was nowhere near ready for us to part ways. This lady would just have to get over it.

Her eyes widened as she looked at me, then she nodded. "Well...I guess that's alright. This can't be an everyday thing, though."

I barely refrained from rolling my eyes. If Kinley needed me to walk her in every day, I'd be walking her in every fucking day.

Emily must have known that I was annoyed because she said a brief goodbye to the woman before leading the way toward Kinley's classroom. The teacher was standing outside the door, greeting students as they arrived. When she saw us, she gave Emily a grin.

"Hello, Mrs. Uley. Mr. Uley." She leaned down and faced Kinley with a kind look. "Hello, Kinley. Why don't we get you settled with your cubby and seat, okay?" She held out her hand for Kinley to take, but I still wasn't ready to let go.

Kinley didn't seem to have quite the same issue. She tried to tug her hand from mine and was met with resistance. She met my eyes with curiosity. What was I supposed to say? _Hey, would you mind if I stuck around for a bit? Maybe all day? I'm having a bout of separation anxiety_. I couldn't expect her to be confident in how her day at school would go if I couldn't even let her walk into the damn classroom by herself.

Emily's hand rested on my arm. "Go on, Kinley. We'll walk in and see your cubby and seat and then we'll go. Alright?" She directed the words at Kinley but I knew they were for me. She squeezed my arm lightly and I sighed, letting go of Kinley's hand.

She immediately moved to her teacher and into the classroom she went. Small children were milling about, stuffing lunchboxes and backpacks into little squares over on one wall.

Wait. Lunchboxes. Turning to Em, I tried to keep my voice low enough that Kinley wouldn't hear. "Shit. What is she supposed to do for lunch? I didn't make her anything!"

My imprint just patted my arm with a laugh. I didn't see what was so funny. The young girl was about to face her first day in a new school and we'd forgotten to pack her a lunch so she wouldn't get hungry. "I packed her a lunch last night and slipped it into her bag before we left. There's even an extra snack for snack time. Try not to worry so much, Sam."

Easier said than done.

The teacher - whose name I was reminded was Mrs. Pearlman - showed Kinley her own little square, explaining what to put in there in the morning (everything but a pencil and folder) and how if they needed anything else throughout the day, the kids would just go back in and grab it. Then she showed her to her seat at the red table and introduced Kinley to the other children already seated in their places. There was only one other girl at that table. Why couldn't Mrs. Pearlman put Kinley at the yellow table? That one seemed to be all girls. I opened my mouth to suggest it, but Emily squeezed my arm again before stepping forward.

"Wow, it looks like you're going to have a great day, Kinley. I think it's time for us to go so you can get started. You'll be okay here with Mrs. Pearlman, right?" Her voice was light and encouraging. Thank fuck she was here because if I said anything right now, it'd probably come out as a worried growl.

Kinley nodded, gifting us with a smile.

I couldn't help but smile back. Squatting down in front of her, I grabbed her hands and sighed. "Yeah, it's time for us to go. But you're going to have a really good day, okay?"

She nodded, her hands tightening on mine for a fraction of a second.

"I'll be here to pick you up the minute school ends. Until then, everything will be perfectly fine here with your teacher." Great, now _I_ was saying things more for my benefit than Kinley's. I pulled her into a hug, whispering. "I'll miss you." And I was apparently pathetic.

A small giggle sounded in my ear and I grinned as I released her. "See you later, baby girl."

And then Emily and I were shaking hands with Kinley's teacher and leaving. Without Kinley. I hated this.

In the truck, Emily laughed. "You are so cute!" she gasped.

My lips twitched as I drove out of the parking lot. "Shut up."

She laughed harder. "I think you're more upset about this than she is!"

I growled playfully. "Did you see the table she's sitting at? Why does she have to be around so many boys?"

Emily rolled her eyes. "As if that's going to be a problem."

She had a point. Not that I was going to acknowledge it. "We should have stayed longer."

My imprint smiled. "I love you."

"And I love you." Now it was my turn to tease her a little. "So, Em."

Her eyebrows rose. "So, Sam."

"Mrs. Uley, huh?" I waggled my eyebrows at her.

Her cheeks turned pink. "It sounded better that way!" she defended. "You know, sort of like how we let people think Kinley's our daughter. It's easier to say I'm your wife than explain that I'm not."

Bringing this up was a good idea - my mood had improved tenfold. "You did it yesterday, too."

She crossed her arms. "It's not like I'm not going to be Mrs. Emily Uley soon. We're getting married in the spring."

"Thank the spirits," I said as we pulled into the driveway.

Emily's gaze turned mischievous when I opened my door. "I know you're upset about Kinley starting school, but you realize the bright side, right?"

I didn't particularly want to look for a bright side about Kinley being gone all day every week day, but I was willing to try if it meant I'd get to bank in on the look my imprint was giving me. "And what is that?"

"Alone time." She said before hopping out of the car and running into the house. I was only a couple of steps behind her - and only that much because I knew this was a game. It wasn't time to catch her quite yet.

We both loved having Kinley with us, but it had taken away the prospect of some serious one on one time between Emily and me. I'd noticed it before now, and I knew Emily had, too. We didn't complain, because Kinley was worth the loss of alone time, but Em was right - it did make the sadness of my sister starting school less of a loss.

Emily pulled her shirt off the moment we crossed the threshold to our bedroom, turning around on her tiptoes to press her lips to mine. I wasted no time in discarding my shirt as I thrust my tongue into her mouth, my hands exploring. Shit, it had been too long.

I was about to make quick work of her pants when my phone rang. Emily pulled away and I grunted, leaning to capture her lips again. She shook her head. "Kinley's at school," she reminded me.

My eyes widened and I dug my phone out of my pocket right away. The number on the caller ID didn't have our area code, but I answered it anyway, not willing to take any chances. "Hello?"

"Mr. Samuel Uley?" a man's voice asked formally.

"Yes, that's me."

"This is Tom Scout. I'm Regina Thomas' assistant." His tone was still formal but it seemed like he expected me to recognize some part of that sentence. I thought it over and came up blank.

"Who?"

There was a pause before he responded, his voice more hesitant now. "Regina Thomas is the social worker who is handling the case of Kinley Uley. You are her brother, correct?"

Oh, so that was the bitch lady's name. I'd never committed it to memory. "Yes, that's me. Did you get Kinley's files together?"

I heard the guy release a breath on the other end of the line. Apparently he'd been worried about accidentally calling the wrong person. Surely the bitch would throw a fit - she didn't seem particularly forgiving. Or caring. Or nice. Working for her had to suck. "Yes, actually," he said. "I'm sending them to your email now. There's several attachments, so it's going to be split between three emails, if that's alright?"

"Sure," I answered, heading to grab my laptop. Emily had already put her shirt back on and was watching me anxiously. I didn't think she'd be up for getting directly back into what we were doing once she heard what this call was about - and I was curious as to what information the files held myself. Especially if there was anything in there that could aid us in helping my sister.

"Sending now," the man said, and there was a faint clicking noise. "There you go." He paused. "Excuse me if I'm intruding, but you want these in order to find out more about your sister's wellbeing, correct?"

He kind of was intruding, but I figured he had a reason for wanting to know. "Yes."

"I'd say check out the third file in the second email. It has information on who was living with Hillary and Kinley Uley. I'm not a psychologist or anything, but the content of that file is probably going to be the most helpful to you." He'd said all that in a rush and added, "If that's all you need, I have more work to get back to. Have a good day, Mr. Uley." He didn't even give me a chance to respond in any way before he hung up.

Logging onto my email, my mind spun. Someone had been living with Kinley and her mom? Why hadn't that been mentioned before? And why hadn't they been around to check on Kinley? Surely anyone who lived day in and day out with her would be interested on how she was doing.

"Sam?" Emily asked, poking my shoulder. "What's going on?"

I clicked open the emails, going directly to the second one and aiming my cursor over the third file. "That was the assistant of Regina Thomas."

"The lady who brought Kinley to us?" Of course Em would have remembered her name.

I smiled at her as I opened the file. "That's the one. Her assistant just sent the files to my email, and then told me to check out this particular one." I began scanning the contents. "Apparently there was someone living with Kinley and her mom."

"What?" Emily said, but I was too busy reading the words on the screen to answer.

Once I reached the end of the document I blinked, certain I'd read that wrong.

So I went back and started over.

And read the same thing again. Emily was reading herself over my shoulder by that point.

"Oh my god," she gasped.

I growled, ready to tear someone apart. Instead, I breathed deep and called Embry. He needed to see this.

* * *

 **Thank you so, so much for reading! Please let me know what you think! And if it's not too much trouble, could you answer my questions at the top? Who should I write an imprinting story for and how do you feel about Bella bashing? I heart y'all! :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! I replied to you all (or I think I did - if I missed you, I am so sorry! It was NOT intentional). You are my favorite people. Reviews are the most encouraging thing ever, and every single one makes me smile. So THANK YOU.**

 **And thank you to everyone reading this and adding it to their alerts/favorites. You rock! If you haven't responded to my questions from last chapter yet, I'd appreciate it so much if you did so I could take your thoughts into account on the next story I start:**

 **1\. Which pack member should I write a story for next?  
2\. How do you feel about Bella bashing? Yay or nay?**

 **So yeah. Now for the chapter!**

 **Disclaimer: My name is not Stephenie Meyer, therefore I do not own Twilight. *sad face***

* * *

 **Chapter** **Nine**

 _ **Embry's** **POV**_

Since I missed school on a regular basis, when I finally sat my ass down in a classroom I did my best to be a dedicated student. I turned my phone off, paid attention, took notes. If we were given time to work on an assignment, I spent the time on task. I didn't let anything that wasn't an honest-to-god emergency distract me.

But since Kinley showed up, I'd been leaving my phone on. It was set to vibrate, and I only glanced at it to see who was trying to contact me if it went off during class. If it was Sam or Emily — which it hadn't been — I would answer it. Otherwise, they could wait a few hours like they'd done before I started leaving the damn thing on. Both Sam and Emily knew this, and they cared about my education, so I knew they wouldn't call unless something important came up.

Which was why, when my cell phone began vibrating and I saw Sam was calling, I darted out of my seat and ran out of the room, barely managing to gather my belongings into my arms as I went.

Today was Kinley's first day of school. She'd been nervous, but after our talk I thought she was feeling better about it. She had her cute backpack and supplies and was ready to go. That didn't mean I wasn't worried, however. There were so many things that could go wrong — both big and small. The other kids could be mean to her. Or she could fall and hurt herself. Or some asshole could — nope. I stopped my thoughts right there.

I'd convinced myself today would go just fine...and now Sam was calling me. It was still early. She was supposed to already be at school, but maybe she'd gotten upset and he kept her home? That would be the most preferable situation, honestly. Anything else my mind could cook up would involve Kinley hurt in a way I likely couldn't help, and I hated the possibility.

My mind was spinning and I was still booking it toward the exit of the school when I answered Sam's call. "What's wrong?"

I heard his throat clear on the other end, and barely contained frustration filled his voice when he said, "Kinley's files were sent over today. The shit I found in here…" He huffed out a breath. "You need to see this."

I relaxed the barest bit, relieved something wasn't currently wrong with Kinley. "You can't just tell me?"

"No," he answered immediately, tone sharp. "Just come read it. I'll call the school and tell them you need to leave."

Laughing, I began heading toward his and Emily's house. It wasn't too far of a walk, and I'd gotten a ride in from Jake today and didn't have a key to his car. This was easier than having Sam or Emily drive and get me or tracking down Jake to loan me his keys. Plus, I was a wolf. Not like I had any trouble with a little physical exertion.

"Already on my way," I said. "I bolted when I saw you were calling."

I could just imagine his eyeroll. "Fine, then I'll call and give an explanation for why you _left_. See you soon."

And that was that. I walked silently to the Uley house, my mind wandering where it always did whenever I wasn't focused elsewhere — Kinley. For such a small, young girl, you'd think there'd be a limit to how much she could fill my brain. But in actuality, the possibilities were limitless. I wondered how her first day of school was going. I tried to imagine what she'd been like as a little baby. I attempted to imagine what her voice would sound like once she felt comfortable enough to finally start talking to us. I wondered how happy she had been before her life had gone south—and hoped we could either bring her back to that happiness or exceed it in due time.

All these thoughts swirled around in my mind until I made it to Sam and Emily's front door. Technically I was supposed to knock, since that was the new rule for all of us since Kinley arrived, but seeing as she was at school _and_ they were expecting me I took it upon myself to just walk on in. I covered my eyes, though, as I did, calling out, "I'm here! Is everyone decent?" I'd never personally walked in on anything I'd never be able to unsee...but Paul had. With the pack mind, I'd gotten more glimpses of that than I ever needed and was in no rush to add any images to that box in my brain I tried my damndest to keep closed.

"You're ridiculous," Emily said wryly from the direction of the kitchen.

I heard Sam sigh from farther away—seated at the table or standing somewhere near it, I guessed. "Come on in, Embry."

Uncovering my eyes, I saw that they were, in fact, decent. Fully clothed and everything. Thank goodness. Striding in to join them, I took my own seat at the table with Sam. "Okay, what did you find? And how pissed am I going to be?" Because there was no question that I _would_ be pissed.

Rubbing a hand over his face, Sam shook his head. "Just...read this." He turned his laptop that was resting on the table toward me, a document open on the screen. "Then I'll explain more."

Slightly annoyed that he was withholding information right now, I decided the best way to get him to finally spill the beans would be to follow his instructions. So I pulled the computer closer to me and read. And read. And read. I read the entire file, which seemed to be some sort of record for someone. He was clearly an asshole. There was a whole slew of crimes listed, from shoplifting to assault, but the ones that I focused in on were the most grave.

 _Rape and molestation_.

He'd been put away for a bunch of shit, but kept getting out. Either short sentences or technicalities, I had no idea. But it was hard to believe someone with so much garbage on their record, including things big enough that he was actually registered as a pedophile, could not be living behind bars.

But according to the most recent status at the bottom of the file, he was out, about, and free. And he had been for fucking _years_.

My blood ran cold as I remembered what this file was from. Holy. Fucking. Shit. I began shaking. "What does this have to do with Kinley?" I demanded, shifting my glare from the screen to Sam's intense gaze. The anger burning in my gut and spreading through my entire body was reflected there, not helping me at all with getting myself under control. My shaking increased to a steady tremble, my chair moving with me and clattering on the floor.

Sam stood, gesturing toward the door urgently. "We should go outside before I tell you this."

" _Tell me he didn't!"_ I roared, standing along with him but making no move toward the door. I didn't trust myself to move another muscle until Sam told me what I was thinking was wrong, that there was another reason I'd spent the last however many goddamn minutes reading that piece of shit's file.

He winced, shaking his head. "It's not what you're thinking." But he didn't sound exactly sure. It was more like he was trying to convince himself. "I haven't seen anywhere that he...did _that_ , Embry. I've been looking through everything else while waiting on you to get here, and there's nothing indicating that she was one of his victims." He was definitely telling the truth now, but he was also avoiding the obvious—even if there wasn't proof within the information sent to him, there was still a hell of a lot of evidence of _something_ all over Kinley's body. We'd both seen it with our own eyes, and the evidence was damning.

"Bullshit," I snarled.

Sam's jaw clenched and I knew it was coming before he said it. In hindsight, I couldn't blame him. I was mere seconds away from phasing and destroying his kitchen. Thankfully, Emily had already left the room, so she was safe. But I really did need to be outside for that conversation; I was just too stubborn and angry to see sense. At the time, however, my chest was vibrating in a deep growl as Sam ordered in his alpha tone, "Outside, Embry. _Now!_ "

I couldn't do anything—I couldn't even pause to phase, even though I was furious enough to burst right then—except do as I was told. My legs began taking me toward the door in long strides, violent noises escaping my lips as I went. Sam followed me, and the moment we were both out there, we exploded. Clothes shredded, falling to the ground in tatters. Animalistic snarls filled the Uley yard while Sam and I faced off.

" _Wait,_ " Sam said, his voice commanding but not an order. He was giving me a choice now. " _I get you're pissed. So am I. But I should finish telling you about that file before we do anything else. Otherwise, you'll get upset all over again._ "

He had a point, but I needed to bite the shit out of something. My patience was nonexistent at this point. What I really wanted to do was hunt down that bastard and tear him limb from limb, but that wasn't exactly plausible at the moment. So sinking my teeth into Sam a few dozen times would have to suffice. I could take him.

Hearing my thoughts, Sam's thoughts took on an amused tone. " _Right. You keep thinking that, pup._ "

I took a step toward him in challenge.

Out loud this time, Sam made a sound that was basically snickering in wolf form. He was definitely laughing mockingly in his mind. " _Okay, okay. But first you need to know. He wasn't included in Kinley's files because she was one of his victims. She was in there because he was living with Kinley and her mother._ "

My. Heart. Stopped. A pedophile had been living with my imprint? What kind of mother did she have that would allow that? I hadn't been the biggest fan of Kinley's mother to begin with, but now I was pretty sure I fucking hated her.

" _Alright_ ," Sam said, breaking me from the path my mind was getting ready to travel down. " _Come and get me, asshole_." He hopped around tauntingly.

Two seconds later, I lunged at him, barely missing him as he leapt away. And thus our spar commenced. We went on like that for a while, getting some good digs on each other—though I suspected Sam let some of mine through. I wasn't a shit fighter, but Sam was the alpha. It was in his genes to be able to best me in a fight. The only one of us who stood a real chance of winning against Sam was Jacob, and we all knew Jacob wasn't going to own up to that potential anytime soon. But I was grateful to Sam for giving me the illusion of winning more than he normally would have. I needed it then. I needed to exert power and dominance, an ability to protect the one I cared for above all others.

Once Sam and I were done working out our murderous urges, we went for a run. We didn't talk, but we were both thinking through what we knew. What possibly—I refused to acknowledge that it was _likely_ —happened to Kinley in her own home. Our thoughts were moving in sync, and luckily they went in a productive direction of how we could help her.

Then Paul's mental voice broke into our minds, stopping all the thoughts in their tracks. " _Wait, what the fuck?!_ "

" _Shit._ " Sam was mentally kicking himself for letting it slip his mind that Paul was patrolling today. Personally, I was surprised he'd kept quiet for that long. It made sense that Sam and I hadn't noticed his presence, since we were so caught up in our fury. But Paul wasn't really one to keep his mouth, or his mind, shut. Ever.

But he had. And now he was pissed. Great.

" _Please tell me this is a sick joke_." Paul was now printing toward us, snarling all the while.

Sam huffed out a breath. Obviously we wouldn't have been able to keep this from the rest of the pack. Even if we tried, there was too much margin for error if one of us slipped. Especially if it was in the middle of something important. The shock it could cause wouldn't be safe. From what was going on in Sam's head, though, I saw he was planning to break it to the pack in an easier way. Unfortunately, Paul wouldn't get that luxury.

" _I don't need a fucking luxury_ ," Paul scoffed. " _Just tell me what is going on_." For a guy who'd been ready to tear shit apart a minute ago, he was rather composed now. He slid to a stop in front of Sam and me, watching us expectantly.

I looked over at Sam, and he nodded. Then he explained what had happened today, what we'd discovered. After he shared, our three minds worked together connecting the dots. Realizing just how serious Kinley's situation was. Sam began weighing the idea of therapy.

" _No_ ," Paul said, shaking his head. " _Not yet. I think sending her to another stranger right now is a terrible idea. She's not really used to all of_ us _yet. If she won't talk to us, why would she talk to another complete stranger she has no connection to?_ "

He had a point. It was almost disturbing how insightful Paul was being right now. This was a total one-eighty from his usual asshole routine.

Paul bared his teeth at me. " _Fuck off._ "

Before we could actually start arguing, Sam said, " _I see your point, Paul. So what should we do? Try to talk to her ourselves?_ " He didn't sound too confident in that idea.

Paul at back on his haunches. " _I don't see why not. She let you comfort her when she had a nightmare, right? And Embry, too?_ " He saw that night in our minds as confirmation. " _So there's no reason to think she won't open up more as time goes on. That the thing, though_ — _you've got to give her time. It won't happen overnight._ "

I had no qualms with his idea, but Sam wasn't sold on the idea of passing up on professional help. He didn't think Emily, me, and him were enough. Not when Kinley had been through so damn much.

Paul sighed, his wolf huffing. " _First of all, it's not just you three. The rest of us, namely_ me _, and going to be around. We'll talk to her, too. She'll get to know all of us, and eventually she will begin to open up. Second of all, I didn't say she'd never go to a professional. I said_ not yet _. Just give her time before you start that_."

Sam began pacing, flip-flopping between agreeing and pushing for another solution.

" _I think his ideas are good_ ," I said. Sam stopped, looking at me in surprise. " _Shocking, I know. Who'd have guessed Paul could be a problem solver?_ "

Paul rolled his eyes, then perked up. A second later, Sam and I did the same, listening.

"Sam!" Emily called. "We need to go pick up Kinley soon!" And that was it. Emily was smart; she knew there was nearly always at least one wolf within hearing distance of their house—well, hearing distance if she yelled, at least—so if she called out when he wasn't home and none of the other wolves were with her, the message would definitely be relayed. Just so happened that this particular time, all three of us were gathered not too far from the house.

Had we really been out there so long that the school day was over? Sam and Emily already had to go pick up Kinley? I wondered…

" _No_ ," Sam said, already trotting off in the direction of his home. " _Paul, back on patrol until Jared relieves you. And Embry, you're not exactly stable yet. I'm not taking you to an elementary school. What if you accidentally hurt a child?_ "

I narrowed my eyes on him. As if I could ever do that. " _I'm fine. And you know once I see Kinley I'll be even better._ "

" _I said no. Get yourself together enough to phase back and you can wait at the house for her to get back, but I'm not taking you with us to pick her up._ " He didn't voice any more reasons, but his mind worked through some: not enough room in the truck, the possibility of someone looking at Kinley wrong and me getting pissed, and the reason he tried to bury deepest in his mind—Kinley's family situation was odd and Sam and Emily had been trying to make it seem as normal as possible. They weren't her parents, but they'd be damned if they broadcasted it to the world and gave anyone ammunition to hurt Kinley in any way. Sure, maybe taking me with them could be harmless. But there was also the possibility that it could bring more attention on them so people discovered more about Kinley and the Uley family. With Kinley already so vulnerable, Sam didn't want that.

And I didn't either. I didn't exactly agree with Sam—I thought there was no harm in me tagging along to pick her up. I could wait in the truck bed like a good little boy. But his reasoning was in Kinley's best interest, so I let it go.

" _I'll be waiting_ ," I told Sam right before he phased back. I turned my back, because Sam's bare ass was not something I wanted or needed to see, and decided to run one more quick circuit before phasing, dressing, and heading inside.

" _She's going to be fine, you know_ ," Paul said, sounding sincere.

Catching me off guard, I stumbled a little before returning to my regular stride. " _I hope so_." If Paul was willing to have a decent, civil conversation, then the least I could do was return the favor.

" _I know so_." He seriously seemed confident.

So I had to ask. " _How?_ "

He was quiet for a moment, his thoughts just static. He had an extra good grip on them today. Normally I was grateful for that, since there was some weird crap floating around in that guy's head, but now I was curious what he was hiding. It couldn't be random that he had such great insight into what to do with Kinley.

Finally, he murmured, " _It's in her eyes. She's young and she's small, but she's strong. Keeping quiet is how she's coping right now. Give her time and she'll feel comfortable enough to move onto a new way to cope. Hopefully it'll be talking. I think it will be if we let her know it's okay. That we're all safe and she can share anything._ " It seemed like he was going to continue, but he stopped there. " _She will be alright. Just give her time._ "

I tried my best to take on the same level of confidence Paul seemed to feel, but I couldn't do it. I was too worried. I was oozing hopefulness, however. That had to count for something. She was small and precious and the most important thing in my world. I'd do anything—

" _Enough,_ " Paul sighed, his tone annoyed. " _There's only enough mushy shit I can take for one day and you're way past my limit, fuckface. Go moon over your imprint in human form. I'm stuck out here for another half an hour. I don't want to spend it listening to you_." There was the Paul we all knew and wanted to punch in the face.

I laughed, but decided not to stick around and irritate him. Paul had been helpful today, and I wasn't going to repay that by shoving my imprint thoughts in his face. Maybe if I rewarded him by leaving, he'd begin being nicer more often. Or at least more reasonable.

" _Ha!_ " he practically chortled. " _Not likely. But go now anyway, and don't let your tail bite you on your way out._ "

I phased with a smirk on my face. Regardless of whether he admitted it or not, Paul was turning into a softy. It was mostly for Kinley, obviously, but who knew? There was no telling if it'd branch out to a less grumpy Paul on a more regular basis. I certainly wasn't going to object to that possibility.

I also wasn't going to spend a bunch of time pondering it.

Instead, I spent the jog to Sam and Emily's house back in my thoughts of Kinley. I paused in the trees lining their backyard, grabbing some clothes from one of the many stashes we had throughout the La Push woods. Then I marched my way inside their house, plopped myself in a seat, and waited not-so-patiently for my cute little imprint to get home so I could ask her about her day.

* * *

 **Soooo, what do ya think? Let me know! I love to read your thoughts. And please answer the questions at the top if you haven't already! (Or if you already answered them and want to answer again, that's cool, too. I won't say no to that. Ha.) Thank you so much for reading! :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**I've FINALLY complete Chapter Ten! This is an important chapter, so it took me some time (and more than one try, honestly) to get it right. But I hope y'all like it!**

 **As always, thank you to everyone who's been reading, adding this story to your alerts and favorites, and ESPECIALLY thank you to everyone who has reviewed! You make me so incredibly happy! As for my next story: I was tinkering with several ideas, but I think I've finally found one that's sticking...and it's Jacob/OC! The writing is flowing so well (though I don't have A LOT of it done, since I've been trying to focus on completing this story) and I am so excited to share it with you all when the time comes! Oh, and now that I'm talking about it, do any of you have really good recs for Jacob/OC stories? I can't seem to find enough of them, and I enjoy reading them so much. Please let me know!**

 **Now, for Chapter Ten. I hope you enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: The Twilight series belongs to Stephenie Meyer. Not me. *sigh***

* * *

 **Chapter Ten**

 ** _Sam's POV_**

Though we had an idea on how to handle the situation, there were still so many uncertainties. Above everything else, I just wanted my sister to be okay. It would take time and patience. I knew that. But as long as the end result was Kinley living a full and happy life, I would deal. I tried telling myself that repeatedly as Emily and I drove over to the school to pick her up, but my body was racing with anxiety regardless.

I'd planned on being way early—first one in the parking lot, basically pacing my ass off waiting for the school day to _end_ already. With the newfound information and excessive amount of time in my wolf form, however, we were actually running a little late. I hated it. Was she waiting for us? Was she upset? Did she think we weren't going to come back? I didn't want any of those thoughts to even enter her head, let alone become worries simply because I sucked at keeping track of time.

When we got there, the place was full of movement. Parents and children walking to and from cars, people leaving, people waiting. Emily tried to convince me to let her hop out and go get Kinley while I waited in the car so we didn't have to park, but there was no way that was happening. So instead I made my own parking space next to a dumpster at the edge of the lot. If anyone had a problem with it, they could kiss my ass. I would only be gone for a minute or two.

If Emily were anyone else, I probably would've been annoyed at having to keep pace with her. I wanted to get to Kinley _faster_ and Em kept a calm stride. She was the mature one, obviously, but that didn't mean I had to particularly like it.

Finally we made it to the door of the school where it appeared children were exiting. I didn't really know how pick-up worked. Were they released by class? Had Kinley already been released but forced to go back inside because we were late? Emily, smart woman she was, stepped up to one of the ladies who seemed to be keeping track of the flow and asked.

The woman's brow furrowed. "Kinley Uley? She's a young one, yes? Just started today?"

Em nodded with a cautious smile. "That would be her."

Now a frown accompanied the woman's lowered brow. "She's already been picked up. Are you sure you were supposed to be the one to get her today?"

Both Emily and I froze. _Are you sure you were supposed to be the one to get her today?_ Of course we were sure. We were her _guardians_. The only people the school should have been letting her fucking leave with. _She's already been picked up_. Not possible. Nope. Not possible at all. We. Were. Her. Guardians.

"What?" I snarled.

The woman's eyes widened and she took a step back. "Sir, I—"

Emily moved next to me and placed a hand on my arm. "We weren't expecting anyone else to pick her up today. Do you remember what the person looked like? Maybe we got wires crossed somewhere." She sounded so calm about this. How was she not freaking the fuck out? No wires had been crossed. If someone else picked Kinley up, then Kinley had been—

Oh shit.

 _Oh. Shit._

Emily's hand squeezed my arm, _hard_.

The woman nodded in understanding. As if someone randomly picking up a child was common. "He was a man, I'd guess in his late thirties. About a head shorter than you," she said, pointing at me and I had to restrain myself from snarling at her again, "with dirty blonde hair. He seemed friendly; he was smiling. And the girl looked like she knew him."

My blood ran cold.

 _Late thirties, dirty blonde, seemed like she knew him…_

I hadn't seen a picture of him, but there had been a basic description in his file. How in the fucking world did he know where Kinley was? And that she was starting school today? And...shit, anything?

There were so many questions but I gave up asking them because _he had her._ He'd snatched her up right outside her goddamn school.

My body began shaking and I knew I wasn't going to be able to hold this form for long.

Emily clearly knew it, too, because she thanked the woman quickly before dragging me away, back toward the dumpster we were parked next to. There was no way I could get in that car with her, though. I was too unstable. Again, Emily knew. Once we were beside the driver's door she reached into my pocket for my keys. I was too furious to even make a sly comment about her digging in my pants.

Keys in her hand now, she met my eyes. Her gaze was worried but also determined. Focused. She wasn't allowing herself to freak the fuck out, but I could tell she wanted to. "Go shift and run. Call a meeting for everyone at our house, and we'll figure out what to do."

"I know what to _do_ ," I said, a growl lacing my tone. "Kill him."

She shook her head. "You'd have to find him first. So you need to be able to make a plan, an _actual plan_ , and track him. Therefore, meeting. Our place. As soon as you all can hold human form. Okay?"

I wanted to say no. We could handle it in our wolf forms. But she shook her head again before I could say a single word about it. "Let me be included. Please."

Well, shit. As if I could deny her anything, especially when she looked so distraught. Blowing out a long breath, I nodded. "Alright. As soon as we can manage, we'll be there."

She gave a feeble smile as she opened the truck door. Time to go.

Pausing only to drop a quick kiss on her cheek, I sprinted toward the trees. The moment I had what could pass as enough coverage, I began stripping. I'd barely gotten my pants off by the time I was changing forms—I hadn't had the chance to tie my pants around my ankle or store my clothes correctly, but whatever. They could be collected later if they were still there, and if they weren't who fucking cared?

I raced through the trees toward home, a howl piercing the air as my paws pounded the ground.

* * *

 ** _Embry's POV_**

I'd been in the midst of raiding Sam and Emily's fridge when Sam's howl broke the air. With the sound of it, I dropped what I was doing—almost literally, I barely took the time to place my sandwich ingredients on the counter—and sprinted out the door. My mind was all over the place but, as was my new normal, they kept returning to one thing.

Kinley.

He'd been going with Emily to pick her up. Did something happen to her? Had a vampire slipped onto the rez somehow and gotten near her? There were literally no reasons crossing my mind that Sam would howl right now, and I was practically frantic. On the brightside, that made my shift easy. My body was already trembling to the point that I likely blurred to the human eye.

In my wolf form, I wasted no time running toward the meeting place Sam's mind was blasting out to us. I tried to glance around it to see what was wrong but got nothing. He has his mind locked tight and would share with us all at once.

When I made it to the small clearing, Paul and Jared were already there. Their eyes were worried, but they were also grim. We all knew this was going to be bad.

Only a couple of minutes later, the entire pack was there, Sam's wolf form pacing through the middle of the circle we made. All eyes were on him, set and ready to deal with the threat that was no doubt upon us.

What he said, however, wasn't anything close to what we were expecting.

" _Kinley's been kidnapped_."

There was a moment of shocked silent in the pack mind—then it exploded with disbelief and questions. Sam wasn't having any of that and shut it down immediately.

" _SILENCE!_ " A growl was working its way out of him, coming from deep within his gut. His entire body vibrated with it. " _Look in my mind, see what I found out earlier. But do it quick so we can move the fuck on. And shut up while you do it._ "

And then his mind became an open book with the files he'd received from Kinley's social worker that morning at the forefront. I focused on keeping my mind to myself because I already knew it all. I'd seen it with my own two eyes, and perusing it again now through Sam's mind would only get me worked up. Since I was already off kilter because _Kinley had been kidnapped_ —my breathing faltered as the reality of Sam's statement hit me.

Kidnapped. Holy fuck.

" _Embry_ ," Sam barked, making me look at him. " _Keep it together_." The three, firm words were an order, but one I was grateful for. Panicking and going off on a rampage right now, which is exactly what my instincts were sending me to do, would not do anything to help my little imprint.

My imprint. She _was_ so little. And someone had taken her. Had she tried to run away? To fight back? Such a small thing, no matter how hard she'd fought it couldn't have been enough. Sadness pressed into my stomach, but I ignored it. Sam was closing his mind back down again so I focused on him, ready to hear what he had to say. Surely he had some kind of plan in mind to get my girl back.

" _That sick fuck took her. Picked her up from school today before Emily and I got there, as if he had a goddamn right to be anywhere near her. Now we have to get her back._ " Sam paused as a trickle of fury moved through the pack. " _Calm yourselves enough to hold human form and shift. We're having a meeting at my house._ " And just like that, he was human again himself, striding toward where he'd said was going to be out meeting place—his house.

How were we supposed to make those plans in anything but our wolf forms? This whole thing was horrendous; it'd be hard enough to keep attentive to the topic at hand as it was, but to have to hold human form inside Sam's house? _How_?

But the others were doing it. The first to shift and follow Sam was, surprisingly, Paul. His face was set in a scowl and his eyes were blazing, but he was heading in the right direction, pausing only to grab some shorts on his way.

Then it was Jared.

Then Jacob.

Leah.

Collin and Brady.

Seth…

I was last to pull myself together, and I hated myself for it. All those other times I managed to be the calm one, the pack member with a level head, and now—shit, now—I had trouble? Ridiculous.

I refused to dwell on it for too long, however, as I ran on two human feet toward Sam and Emily's place. I barely remembered to snatch up a pair of shorts from a spot close to their house before striding up to the door and letting myself inside. Everyone was scattered around the kitchen. The food I'd taken out earlier was still on the counter. Then again, it wasn't all that surprising once I caught a glimpse of Emily, positively _fuming_ in her place next to Sam. No way had she settled down enough to clean anything up since she'd returned home.

Seeing me finally taking my place amongst the pack, Sam called our attention. "Alright, _listen_." His firm tone brokered no room for disobedience. Not now. "You've been given a lot of new information. A lot to process. But I need you to back up and focus on the most important aspect of it all—Kinley has been kidnapped by _that man_." He spat the last two words like they tasted dirty. They probably did.

"We're not reporting it to the police because if we do that, then it'll be harder to get away with ripping his fucking throat out once we get Kinley back. So we need a plan to find her." Sam went quiet, looking around at us for suggestions.

Seth spoke up hesitantly. "Why don't we just track him?" He said it like that was the most obvious thing in the world, and it kind of was. But I had a feeling Sam had already considered that.

Sam nodded, more in acknowledgement than agreement. "Right. Normally, that'd be golden. But when the man's scent is not something we're familiar with and she was taken from a place full of scents we are not accustomed to, that makes our noses moot."

"Plus," Paul added, his voice low, "I'm sure he had a car. Can't pick up a scent trail that way." We all turned to face him. Paul lifted a brow. "His address on the file said Seattle. I doubt he traveled all that way on foot. Lucky for him he has that advantage."

"His address," Emily said. "I know it's a longshot, but can't someone check there?"

Sam sighed. "Someone _could_ , but could this guy be that stupid? I'm guessing not if he's somehow out of jail with all the shit he's done. He's got to have some sort of brain."

"And he has to know someone will be looking for her, with him as a suspect on the list. First place anyone would go to ask him questions is his address," Jared agreed.

"Okay," I said, getting impatient. "So... _what?_ How are we going to get her back? What are we supposed to do."

Everyone was quiet for almost an entire minute—then Jacob cleared his throat. "I've...got an idea." He didn't sound too sure about whatever _idea_ was in his head, but we all turned our gazes to him anyway, ready to consider anything.

He had a frown in place, but his expression held determination. There was more confidence in his voice when he spoke his plan, Jacob's eyes leveled on Sam's as he said, "The Cullens."

* * *

 **Thank you for reading! Please, please, please let me know what you thought? And if you have any Jacob/OC story recs, I'd love (seriously LOVE) to hear 'em! :)**


	11. Chapter 11

**Alright, y'all. Here's the eleventh chapter! Thank you to everyone who favorited and followed (seriously, a bunch of people did after last chapter and it was awesome). And EXTRA thank you to the few of you that reviewed! You are the best.**

 **I'd still LOVE some (preferably completed) Jacob/OC recs, by the way, so if you have some it'd make my day if you left it in a review or sent me a PM! And UPDATE: I've plotted things out and YAMS should come out to be 14 or 15 chapters, depending on how many words it takes me to bring this story to a close. After that, I'll start posting my next story, which I am so excited about!**

 **But I won't go on about it now. I'll let you move on to the chapter. I hope you enjoy it, and PLEASE REVIEW! :)**

 **Disclaimer: My name is not Stephenie Meyer and I go not own the rights to Twilight.**

* * *

 **Chapter Eleven**

 ** _Sam's POV_**

After the words left Jacob's mouth, the room went silent as we all processed them. My immediate reaction was a firm _no_. What could those bloodsuckers do to help? Our noses were as good as theirs, so it wasn't like they had some advantage there. And with that little pixie being unable to see us wolves, she couldn't help us—assuming she'd be able to get a read on Kinley in the first place, since they'd never met.

How could Jacob seriously suggest turning to them? I studied his face to see if he was joking. Maybe he was trying to lighten the mood.

Nope. His expression was solemn. Honestly, he was looking a little fierce over there. Dominance rolled off him, not far enough to reach me but a clear warning—

Either I'd deal with this using the Cullens' help or Jacob would take this, and the entire pack, into his own hands. He would step up as alpha if he saw the need, and a kidnapped imprint was definitely worthy of the sacrifice. Despite myself, I felt a surge of pride.

Still, I didn't want to make him take the title until he was truly ready, and I wasn't sure I wanted to hand over control of finding Kinley to anyone.

So I reassessed. The Cullens had a family of seven—eight if you included Bella, which none of us did. She'd be of zero help to us. One could see the future, which wasn't particularly helpful at the moment since all that came up when the wolves were involved was blackness. Another could read minds...that could be helpful. And then there was another that could feel and influence emotions. I wasn't writing him off as useful or useless quite yet. The rest of the Cullens were normal, as far as we knew, but their leader was a doctor—definitely an asset. They also had that huge guy who could intimidate anyone. The two other females...I had nothing to say for them. One was nice and nurturing, so maybe that could be good for Kinley? But we also had Emily, who Kinley was already comfortable with.

Pulling myself away from the direction my thoughts were spiraling down, because I was wasting precious time, I focused back on the decision I needed to make. Go to the Cullens? Or no?

Based on my reverie, they could be valuable to our search.

I didn't think on it any further before I said, "Okay. We'll go to the Cullens."

Surprisingly, it wasn't any of my pack brothers who spoke up in protest—it was Emily. "What? _No_! Sam, you have to see that's a terrible idea!"

Peering down at her distraught face, I shook my head. "They can help us, Em. We don't have time to waste. We need to find her _now_. Who knows what he'll do to her?" I shuddered, barely refraining from picturing just what might have been happening to my sister at that very moment. "We're going to the Cullens."

Emily's eyes filled with tears. "I don't like this."

"None of us like this."

"Sam—"

"No," I said, cutting her off and ending the conversation. "You stay here. Who knows, maybe this whole thing is a fluke and she'll be brought home shortly. Someone needs to be here for that." Even as the words left my mouth, I knew they were complete bull.

Em knew it too, but she also knew _me_ and surely she could see that I was reaching the end of my patience on this. "Fine," she said softly, resigned.

"I'll let you know the moment we find anything," I promised, leaning down to give her a quick peck on the lips before leading the pack outside. "Alright," I said. "Collin, Brady, and Leah stay here and run patrols. Keep your noses keen to anything that may be out of the ordinary. If you find something, Leah can decide how to proceed. Don't go too far from the rez, though—if something is leading you too far out, call me or Jacob and we'll figure something out."

Leah, whose mouth had been open to argue against being left behind, smirked at the prospect of being left in charge. I leveled a stern look at her. "This is serious, Leah."

She rolled her eyes. "I know."

After watching her for another couple of seconds to make sure I got my point across as to just how serious this was, as if a reminder was even needed, I nodded and dismissed them. "Everyone else," I said, addressing those left with me—Jacob, Paul, Jared, Seth, Quil, and an extra fierce Embry. A lot of people to bring with me to the Cullen mansion. "We're going in human form."

Quil gaped. "Why would we do that?"

Jacob spoke, his tone indicating that the answer was obvious. "Because we aren't going there as a threat. We want their help."

"Right. So divide yourselves up however you want but let's get going," I ordered, unable to handle standing around anymore. Kinley wouldn't benefit from that. We needed to get moving.

Somehow, I ended up in the passenger's seat of Jacob's Rabbit with Quil and Embry in the back. I had my own truck to drive, but I was likely to crash the damn thing into a tree with the chaos my mind was in and the last thing we needed was something as stupid as that slowing us down. No one talked on the way there, other than Jacob assuring us once as we passed the rez border that the Cullens would help. He seemed to hold a lot of faith in them. Hopefully it wasn't misplaced.

When our small line of cars pulled up in front of the mammoth-sized home, the doctor and the mind reader were standing on the porch awaiting our arrival. As I exited the car, I noticed the form of the one who could influence emotions looking out the big window at the front of the house. Were they the only ones home? We kind of needed all the help we could get here.

"What's wrong?" the mind reader asked, his brow furrowed as he tried to follow the path of my thoughts. "You need _us_ for something?"

Walking up to the bottom of their porch steps, I met both of their eyes in turn. "Yes. We are here to request your assistance in a situation that—"

"Jacob?" a feminine voice gasped, interrupting. I bit back the urge to snarl, keeping in mind that I wouldn't take too kindly to anyone threatening my mate in such a way. Still, it was a struggle. Time was of the essence.

A slender form streaked out the door and straight to Jacob. Surprisingly, he didn't appear as welcoming of Isabella Swan as he usually was. He patted her back impatiently for a moment before pushing her back and shaking his head. "Not now, Bells."

She frowned. "I haven't seen you in so long. I figured you were here to see me."

"Not this time. We have important business to discuss, actually, so please…" he trailed off.

Bella didn't take the hint. "Do they need you for this? There's so many of you here! Surely we can—"

"No," Jacob said, deadpan.

Before Bella could speak again, I dove back into my request. I didn't have the patience for this. "We would very much appreciate your assistance in finding my sister. Her name is Kinley and she was taken from her school this afternoon."

The doctor's face instantly took on a look of concern. "Has the incident been reported? Do you know who took her?"

"We haven't reported it. Ideally, we'd like to take care of the man who took her ourselves."

" _He_ —so you know who took her."

I nodded. "We are as sure as we can be without having been there to see the kidnapping."

The doctor nodded, as well. "Of course we'll offer any assistance we can. Please, come inside. All of you."

I led my pack as we followed two vampires into their home, hoping our natural enemies would be the key to bringing my sister home where she belonged, safe and sound.

* * *

 ** _Embry's POV_**

Sitting in the finely furnished living room with a room full of my pack brothers and vampires, it was hard to believe that the individual I was most annoyed with was actually the only human among us. Bella Swan was a nice girl. She wasn't my favorite person—but then again, the only person I'd ever call my favorite was Kinley. But I'd always thought Bella was a cool chick. A bit shy and somewhat clingy to Jacob but whatever. Who was I to judge?

But right now, I wanted nothing more than to slap the girl across her face.

All the _cool_ I thought I'd seen in her had given way to neediness. Again, I wasn't really one to judge...except for the fact that _now was not the fucking time_. She'd been trying to convince Jacob to split from the group and hang out with her the whole time we'd been there. While Carlisle wrangled up the entirety of his family, and then throughout Sam's explanation of the situation.

How could she still be begging Jacob to step away with her when she knew how serious the situation with Kinley was? She'd been in the room with us for the whole ugly story. And yet, there she sat, right up against Jacob's side, opening her mouth to ask him _again_.

I was literally two seconds away from strangling her.

"Bella, love," Edward said, voice gentle but firm. "Come sit with me, please."

She pouted at him for a moment before sighing. With one brief glance at Jacob, hoping he'd ask her to stay near him no doubt, she moved over and sat with her boyfriend. Hopefully he'd be able to shut her up.

"Embry," Edward warned. "I understand your frustration, but please try to contain yourself."

In normal circumstances, I would have apologized. And I probably would have taken it all back too. Now, however, I said nothing.

" _Anyway_ ," Alice said exaggeratedly, pulling the room's attention back to her. "I can't just track her down. I haven't met her, so she'd not imbedded in my mind at all. Plus, if any of you wolves intend to go get her, that automatically blacks out my visions. I'm useless."

Her mate, Jasper, shook his head. "Not useless. You can still help plan. We all can."

"Right," I nearly snapped. "So can we do that? Every second we sit here doing nothing is another second she's with…" I couldn't finish my sentence. My body trembled violently.

Sam's voice pulled me back from the need to phase. " _Calm down_ ," he ordered.

I took a deep breath, struggling to grasp serenity.

Suddenly, a wave of calm flushed through me, aiding the process significantly. I caught the eye of Jasper and gave a small nod of appreciation. His lips quirked infinitesimally in response.

"If he has an address in Seattle, it makes sense that he'd take her to that area, at the very least." Carlisle steered the conversation back to the relevant topic. "If not Seattle, then a surrounding neighborhood."

"That's still a huge stretch of land to search," Edward said, rubbing his chin. "We have many people but it'd take a good chunk of time regardless."

The room was quiet for a second until Jasper said, "Unless we can cut corners on that."

We all looked to him even as Edward was already responding to his idea. "Not bad, but I'm not certain the wolves would relinquish the search like that."

"We're not giving up," Sam and I said in unison.

Jasper shook his head. "That's not what I was thinking."

"What's your plan?" Rosalie, the gorgeous blonde who was usually a stone cold bitch but actually seemed to be concerned about my young imprint, asked.

Jasper sat forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "First, we divide the area we want to search into a grid and number the sections. Then, we search each of those sections systematically, top to bottom. Not a single stone unturned."

Shifting in my seat, I resisted the urge to start pacing. This was taking too damn long. "Edward already said that'd take too long."

"It would," Jasper agreed. "Unless it was _only_ my family doing the searching."

"Then the little pixie could look ahead and see which section Kinley's in," Jacob said, apparently already on board with the idea.

I went completely still. "You want me to sit back and give up looking for my imprint?" My tone was low and dangerous.

Another rush of calm eased my bones as Jasper spoke. "No. It would be most beneficial to your imprint to be patient while we search for her, and then we'll bring her right here back to you."

I remained silent, not fond of that plan at all. Kinley needed me. _Me_. Not this band of bloodsuckers.

"You need to make the decision to stay here," Alice said, her usually upbeat voice grating on my nerves. "If you have any intentions to interfere it'll give me blind spots and I could miss her."

I heard what she said. I understood the idea. But I couldn't accept it. My imprint needed me.

"It's a good idea," Sam murmured in my ear. "So... _all wolves in my pack, Embry Call included, will remain at their current posts until Kinley is retrieved_."

A snarl ripped past my lips, and Sam's hand squeezed my shoulder.

" _That is an order_ ," he reiterated, as if I didn't already feel the weight of it urging me to give in. Stealing my air until I agreed.

At this point, I had no choice. I'd have to trust these vampires to find her and bring her home safe. I had no choice.

I had no choice.

I had no choice.

 _I had no choice._

"Fine," I grunted, my shoulders hunched and my breath ragged. "I agree. I'll stay here." I lifted my gaze to glare at each of the Cullens in turn. "But you'd better find her and bring her back to me. Or I swear, _there will be hell to pay_."

* * *

 **So, what did you think? How do you predict the next chapter will go? How are you today? Tell me ALL THE THINGS in a review! Please! Seriously, pretty please. I start school in the morning and I am so stressed about it. Help take my mind off it with a review! Please. And as always, thank you so very much for reading! :)**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hi, friends! I am so sorry it has taken me forever and a half to finish this chapter. I've been in such a writing slump. But now this chapter is done and I know EXACTLY what's going to happen in the next few chapters to wrap this story up. I'm aiming to have this complete by the end of the month and then I'll start posting my next story, which is Jacob/OC!**

 **Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! Honestly, it's reviews that push me to keep trying to write even when every word I put down feels like garbage and I rewrite, rewrite, rewrite. I'm finally done working on this chapter, so here it is for all you lovely people. I didn't get the chance to reply to reviews from last chapter, but I WILL reply to those left on this one. Those of you who review are my favorite :)**

 **And those of you that favorite and follow are awesome too - I've passed 100 on both! (Oh, and reviewers - I've hit 50!) Y'all rock.**

 **So yeah - THANK YOU! Now, here's chapter twelve...**

 **Disclaimer: My name is _not_ Stephenie Meyer and I do not own the Twilight series.**

* * *

 **Chapter Twelve**

 _Sam's POV_

My pack meant the world to me, but I was seriously about to beat the shit out of all of them. We were waiting—waiting, waiting, so much fucking _waiting_ —for the Cullens to call. Or text. Or return. Or send a damn carrier pigeon. _Something_ to let us know that Kinley was fine and on her way back here. To safety.

Home. With me and Emily.

...And Embry and the pack, but I was pissed at them so I wasn't eager to admit that they fit into the equation, too.

I'd given Jacob the task of calling my imprint to inform her of the plan because I could barely hold my human form as it was. Remaining calm enough to relay the information to her in a way that actually made sense wasn't something I felt like I could do.

So instead, I paced. And that was fine. For, like, two minutes.

Then Embry got up and paced with me.

And Quil began whispering to Jared.

And Paul began punching a pillow like a fucking idiot.

The only person who wasn't being obnoxious and annoying was Jacob—but even then, he was pissing me off because why was he so damn calm? Kinley had been kidnapped! And he was just going to sit on that perfect white couch with Isabella Swan like a pillar of serenity? How _dare_ he?

"I made some food," a soft, kind voice said from the doorway.

We all turned to face the leader's wife, Esme, which worked in the favor of all of my packmates because I'd truly been seconds away from bashing some faces in.

"Awesome!" Jacob exclaimed, standing and heading right toward the vampire. He stepped past her and into what I assumed was the kitchen. None of the rest of us moved for a minute, while Bella sat dejectedly on the couch. What, had she been expecting him to carry her tiny ass in there with him? She had two feet that weren't broken.

Jared shrugged. "Cool." Then he followed Jacob. Quil went with him. And after him went the rest of the people in the room, except for Embry. He'd paused in his pacing and was now staring a hole into the floor. I knew I should say something to him. Something encouraging to make him feel reassured that we'd get his imprint back. But his imprint was my little sister and I was just as close to the ledge as he was.

"Come on," I said quietly, my voice hoarse. I hadn't shed a single tear, but that didn't stop my emotions from going wild.

Embry looked up at me. His eyes were so...lost. Scared.

Some of my anger slipped away. "Come on," I said again, more gentle this time. How would I feel if Emily was the one taken? I probably wouldn't have been able to function, either.

With a nod, he walked toward the kitchen where the rest of the guys were chowing down on something that was apparently delicious, judging by the guys' low sounds of approval.

As he moved past me, I dropped a hand on his shoulder. "It's going to be alright. She'll be okay." I urged as much confidence as I could into those words, but it was more obvious now that I was absolutely the wrong person to be giving him a pep talk. He was scared?

So was I.

Embry didn't acknowledge the weak cadence to my words. He simply nodded and shrugged my hand off his shoulder. My anger flared again, but I kept it in check.

He was upset. I needed to cut him some slack.

But, man, did I want to throttle—

 _Calm_ , I told myself. Embry wasn't the bastard that took my sister. He didn't deserve my fury.

I needed to save that for the pervert who actually _had_ taken her.

With a deep sigh, I headed into the kitchen full of my pack brothers, keeping a conscious effort toward remaining civil. Toward reining in the violence simmering in my bones. It wasn't for these guys; these guys were my allies. Hold it in. Bottle it up.

Soon enough, I'd get to rip the piece of shit to shreds.

* * *

 _Embry's POV_

Watching the guys cram their mouths full of food baffled me. How could they be anything close to normal right now? I could barely breathe, and they were tearing apart Esme's kitchen as if nothing was wrong. Anger simmered deep inside me, threatening to allow the wolf part of me to overtake the rest. He knew what to do, he'd make our imprint safe—and tear apart these jackasses while he was at it.

But my human half was still present, whispering rational thoughts in my brain. My packmates weren't to blame for Kinley getting kidnapped. They were doing exactly as they were told my staying here so the vampires could find Kinley and bring her back, and I should do the same. And yeah, they were stuffing their faces like idiots—but couldn't I sense their worry? They were on thin ice themselves, trying to act as normal as possible.

And, watching them, I saw it. The lines in their faces. The concern in their eyes. The anger behind it all. They were on my side.

I turned away, staring at the wall. So they guys didn't deserve my fury. That didn't make me any less furious, it just prompted me to redirect it.

 _She'll be okay_ , I told myself. _She'll be okay she'll be okay she'll be okay she'll be okay_ over and over and over, a mantra that I refused to release as I glared at nothing.

Right now, anger was easier. Stoking the fire in my soul was much more manageable than the breathtaking fear that wanted to creep up. Kinley was so young, so small. So fragile. There were so many ways that waste of space could hurt her, scar her…

It would be so easy to break her.

I couldn't dwell on that.

 _She'll be okay…_

As I kept my inner chant, I recalled her smile. Her large, bright eyes. Her excitement just one day before when she'd showed me her supplies for school. How complete I felt when she cuddled up on my chest to sleep, her breathing deep and easy, her heart beating the most perfect rhythm.

I couldn't lose her. I couldn't. I wouldn't be able to survive it.

 _She'll be okay, she'll be okay, she'll_ —

A cell phone started ringing and my eyes, along with those of my brothers, snapped to where it rested on the counter. Esme swept it up without any hesitation and answered it.

From the other end of the line, we all heard Carlisle say, "We've got her. She's alright."

And just like that, my knees gave out and I fell to the floor, crumpling as I finally allowed myself to burst into tears.

* * *

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	13. Chapter 13

**Hello, friends! This is my quickest update in...well, I think EVER. But we are so close to the end of the story and I've left y'all hanging long enough. I just finished typing the last words to this story and I feel all kinds of emotional. This will be my first completed story, and it's my first imprint story. I have another one in the works that I'll start posting soon after I post the last chapter of this...but more on that later. THIS is chapter thirteen. There are fourteen chapters total in this story, so after this only one more to go!**

 **Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed! You are all my favorite people. I'm pretty sure I replied to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, but if I missed you I am so sorry! Thank you also to everyone who has favorited and followed. I appreciate it so much!**

 **Now, here is chapter thirteen. Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: My name is _not_ Stephenie Meyer and I do _not_ own Twilight. Sad face.**

* * *

 **Chapter Thirteen**

 _Sam's POV_

Embry fell apart on the floor and I almost went down right along with him. All that stopped me was my very worried imprint waiting for news in La Push. Wasting no time as I dragged in deep breaths of relief, I dialed Emily's number.

"Please tell me you have good news," she said, forgoing a hello.

"Em, babe…" I forced out. Maybe I should have waited until I could form a complete sentence before making this call.

My imprint made an irritated noise on the other end of the line. "Samuel Uley, I said you better have some good news for me." It was cute how she tried to sound assertive. I could tell it was all bravado—she was freaked out. Not that I could blame her, with me over here practically gasping for air.

"Sam…" she pleaded, her voice wavering now.

And just like that, I gained control. My chest was still tight and every breath took effort, but at least I could speak clearly enough to tell Emily, "She's been found. She's alright. She'll be here soon." Shit, I had tears in my eyes. I refused to let them fall as I continued. "She's on her way home, babe."

Emily didn't respond, but I could hear her sniffles. She was crying. It didn't help my effort of holding myself together, and I needed to be strong for when my baby sister got here. So I said, "I've got to go now, Em. Both she and I will be home soon. Okay?"

A soft hiccup sounded before Emily whispered, "Okay. See you soon. I love you."

Closing my eyes, I tipped my head back as a heavy sigh escaped me. "Swear on everything, I love you, too. So damn much. See you soon."

I slipped my phone back into my pocket, then opened my eyes, glancing around. I felt like I needed to do _something_ , but there was nothing for me to do. Not yet. Not until she was here. I considered asking Esme if she had any idea of how long they'd take to arrive, but decided against it. We'd all heard the entire conversation with Carlisle. No mention of arrival time.

Embry made a jagged sound, dragging my gaze to his form on the floor. Okay, so apparently there was something I could do right now.

My steps were careful as I moved toward him, in case his animal instincts were tempting him. The last thing any of us needed at that point was for Embry and I to get into a battle for dominance. Obviously I'd win, but it was a fight that would surely upset Kinley when she arrived. She was probably scared and upset enough as it was; Embry and I didn't need to add to that.

Carefully, I placed my hand on his shoulder. The noise he made stopped.

My eyes were focused on Embry, but I sensed everyone else in the room watching us. Not like they had anything better to do either. They'd already eaten all the food Esme set out.

A soft whine came from Embry's mouth, and then he looked up at me. His expression was pleading.

"She's okay," I told him, forcing as much confidence into my voice as I could. I hadn't been able to ascertain this with my own senses yet, obviously, but I was clinging to the vampire doctor's words with everything I had. "She'll be here soon."

Embry's mouth settled into a straight, angry line. "She's probably terrified."

I couldn't argue that—she most likely was. "We'll help her through it."

"How will she ever feel safe again?"

"We'll help her through it," I repeated. Inside, I felt like a failure. Of a brother, of an alpha. I had let Kinley get kidnapped from my territory. I couldn't get her back myself. And now I didn't have anything to offer to help her through it other than these words to her imprint. But I couldn't let that affect how I handled my pack. They needed me to be strong. They needed me to have answers. So I dug deep inside myself for the hope they needed me to pass onto them.

"How?" Jared asked.

Yeah, my pack needed me to help them through this. They all watched me.

"We protect her. We spend time with her. We continue to give her the kindness we've been giving her this whole time. We answer her questions. We be what she needs." The words felt empty to me, but by the time I was finished speaking, even I started to believe them, at least a little bit. We could help her be okay. Just like we were planning to help her through her past with her mother and the asshole live-in boyfriend. Now we just had a little more of a hurdle to clear.

Paul nodded. "He's right. We'll help her through anything and everything and she'll be okay." Thankfully I had someone on the same page as me.

Bolstered by Paul's confidence, the rest of my pack murmured agreement. Even Embry, though his voice was quiet.

"We can—" I started, but stopped when the scent of vampires became stronger.

And the sound of a heart beating a tiny bit faster than normal grew closer.

Embry hopped to his feet, more energized than he'd been all day. "She's here!"

Everyone started to step toward the door, but I called out, " _Stop!"_ They all halted, their anger sparking. "If we all rush her, she's going to get scared. Just wait."

Embry glared at me. "You're kidding."

I glared back. "I'm asking you to wait a moment, Embry. Calm down."

He opened his mouth to argue, but the Edward entered the room with a small form in his arms before any more words could leave his mouth.

Embry forgotten, I moved closer to Edward in the doorway, Kinley nestled in his arms. She appeared much more calm than I could have expected her to be.

"Jasper helped a little when we were getting her out," Edward murmured. "Then I explained who we were and that we were bringing her to you, and she's been fine ever since." He bounced the little girl and smiled at her when she glanced at him. "She's been a little angel, honestly."

Stunned at Edward's tenderness, I blinked for a moment. Then I grinned. "Thank you for helping. Now if you'd please…" I opened my arms, my intention clear.

To my surprise and pleasure, before Edward could hand her over, Kinley herself reached for me, propelling herself from his arms into mine. I hugged her close, breathing in her scent. I didn't smell any blood, and she seemed perfectly alright physically. Still, I pulled away so I could get a good look at her face. "You okay, baby girl? No one hurt you?"

Kinley shook her head, then nodded, then shook it again. She appeared frustrated and glanced over at Edward.

He gave her a kind smile. "She's fine."

My eyes narrowed. "She talks to you? In her mind?"

He nodded. "She's a very articulate child."

 _Then why does she never speak aloud?_ I thought, but Edward shook his head. Sighing, I looked back down at my sister. "I'm so glad you're here—safe and sound." It was strange to be calling the Cullen residence _safe and sound_ , but I couldn't deny that their home was exactly that today.

I held her close to me for a few more moments before an intentional cough sounded from behind us. I couldn't help but smile. "Kinley, baby girl, there's someone else who is so glad you're safe, too." Turning so we faced him, I said, "Embry would probably love a hug right now."

Kinley's eyes widened, and then she squealed and launched herself at his chest. His arms closed around her, and he held her in a tight embrace. He started to whisper to her and I could tell he was damn near tears. Again.

Since there were only so many times I could watch Embry cry in one day, and since Kinley was obviously in sufficient hands, I headed over to Carlisle to work on fixing the rest of this mess. Namely, tearing apart the fucker who'd stolen my little sister.

* * *

 _Embry's POV_

I was not going to cry again. I wasn't. I'd already fallen apart like a weak little shit once—I couldn't do it again now.

But holding Kinley to my chest, her tiny arms around my neck, it was extremely difficult to hold back my emotions. Today had been _terrifying_.

Never again, I vowed. Never again would I allow anything like this to happen again to my imprint. I didn't care what it took. I'd drop out of school, I'd attach myself to her side. Whatever was necessary to keep this girl safe from here on out.

Because _shit_ , that had been scary.

My breathing hitched, bringing me a step closer to losing my battle with tears. Fuck.

A light touch ghosted over my hair, stroking gently. Startled, my eyes widened and I stilled. I felt the touch again. And again. And again. Someone was petting me.

Turning my head to see who it was, I caught a glimpse of Kinley's lifted arm. The stroking stopped, and her gaze met mine. I would have expected fear or something to be shining in her eyes after her ordeal, but instead she was watching me worriedly.

Kinley was worried about _me_. And she was trying to make me feel better. The thought brought a smile to my face, and I hugged her close again. After a moment, she resumed her petting and I felt my whole body beginning to relax.

I would have gone to find a place to sit in the living room if it weren't for the conversation Sam was having with everyone else on the other side of the room. They were speaking in hushed voices, but I could hear them clearly. Sam was demanding to know where the shitstain who kidnapped Kinley was.

"About that…" Carlisle said, sounding as if he was trying to figure out a way to break some bad news.

" _Tell me_ ," Sam growled.

Carlisle sighed. "It's probably best for you to be calmer when I tell you this. Or maybe we should switch rooms. Kinley is—"

Another growl. "Kinley is with her imprint and she is fine. Stop stalling and _tell me_."

"He killed himself," a tinkling voice said. All heads in the room snapped to face Rosalie. Well, except mine. I stayed exactly as I was, not at all indicating to Kinley that such an important conversation was happening right out of her hearing range. She was safe and content here with me, and I wasn't going to go anything to change that or scare her.

"What." Sam's tone wasn't even questioning. It was just flat. Monotone. In disbelief.

"We found her in a closet in a random motel room," Rosalie said. "The waste of space was in the bathtub, bullet hole through his skull."

The room was silent for a moment, taking in the information.

Jacob was the first to speak. "How do you know it was suicide?"

"He left a note," Carlisle said.

"It was on the bathroom mirror. In toothpaste," Rosalie added.

"As if we needed anymore proof the dude was fucking crazy," Emmett commented.

"What'd it say?" Sam asked.

Now that was a question even Rosalie didn't seem to want to answer.

"That bad?" Quil winced.

"It said, 'I'm not sorry,'" Edward said.

I felt myself bristling even as my packmates did the same. I kept my control, though, swaying a little with Kinley. Her hand was moving slower now, and I heard her heartbeat evening out. This was what I needed to focus on. My imprint, falling asleep comfortable in my arms. _Safe_. I didn't need to get seriously fucking pissed over asswipe's lack of remorse. Nope.

Kinley's hand fell, dangling over my shoulder as she completely lost her battle with sleep. I shifted her in my arms, cradling her so she'd have a more comfortable slumber. She was here and she was alright.

Turning around, I faced the rest of my pack. They were gathered loosely around the island in the kitchen, expressions ranging from uncertain to furious.

I met the eyes of my alpha, saw the indecision there. How were we supposed to let this go? We'd been priming ourselves for tearing apart Kinley's kidnapper limb from limb, and now we were supposed to do nothing? The guy was already gone? It felt so anticlimactic.

But we didn't actually have a choice. There was nothing more to do, whether we liked it or not.

"It's over," I murmured, keeping my tone soft so as not to wake my imprint.

Sam hefted out a sigh, his shoulders relaxing as he let go of his tension and found acceptance. He nodded. "It's over."

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 **What did you think? I hope you liked it! Only one more chapter to go...I'll post it soon. :)**


	14. Chapter 14

**Hello, my lovely readers! So here we are. The final chapter. This is so bittersweet - I'm happy because I've finally completed a story! But I'm also going to miss Kinley and this story. Maybe someday I'll write more for Kinley and Embry (like when they actually get together - would anyone want to read that?) but for now, this chapter is the last.**

 **Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. And of course, I really like those of you who favorited and followed. Y'all are the best!**

 **Now, here it is: Chapter Fourteen...**

 **Disclaimer: Twilight does not belong to me.**

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 **Chapter Fourteen**

 _Sam's POV_

A week after Kinley was kidnapped and then found, I decided to use some free time to go through the rest of Kinley's file. I'd felt the driving need to do so since the day we brought her home from the Cullens', but only a week later did I get the time. The seven days in between had been hectic.

After an imprint goes through an ordeal such as Kinley's, the entire pack gets protective. Possessive. Everyone wanted Kinley time, and dividing that up in a way so as to not upset the little girl was an easy task. Making sure everyone abided by their given allowances, however, had been an exhausting feat.

Embry had been the worst. Which was expected, but it was also annoying. He threatened to drop out of school. He wanted to move in. He practically begged to homeschool Kinley.

While that last was tempting and Emily actually considered it, I couldn't let any of that happen. We needed to get back to as normal of a life as we could, just with a little extra caution added along the way. Otherwise Kinley would never be able to heal.

So I made patrols tighter. And we made sure we were always early to pick Kinley up from school. We told her that if anyone ever tried to take her like that again, that she should scream. She should kick and fight and make such a ruckus that someone would notice and come help.

Kinley had nodded when we told her, but she still hadn't spoken a word.

Now that we knew Kinley talked to Edward through her mind, I'd been hoping she'd speak up aloud to us. But other than a happy giggle when Emily had procured a huge tray of cookies in front of her when we brought her back last week—apparently my imprint had spent her time stress-baking, something that was much appreciated by us all—Kinley hadn't released a peep.

It worried me. I knew only a week had passed, but she _seemed_ fine. It was the oddest thing. She didn't get nervous about going back to school. She didn't shy away from any of us. She even slept through the night. So if she was showing no signs of distress, why did she continue to hold her silence?

I'd asked Emily about it the night before and she hadn't had an answer. Not for why Kinley seemed even better now, after being taken, than she'd been before, and not for why Kinley didn't speak. "We just have to be patient," Em had said. "Patience and love are what she needs now."

I agreed, but I also didn't like sitting back and doing nothing. So there I was, in front of the computer screen going through the rest of Kinley's file. I knew this probably wouldn't help, but I wanted to read it anyway. I _needed_ to read it, for some reason.

Page by page, document by document, I learned about my little sister and her situation. A lot of it I either knew or had figured out myself. Some of it was more relevant to her mother, which meant I didn't care.

But then I got to an add-on to Kinley's mother's will and froze.

 _Dear Samuel Uley_ , the page read.

It was a letter. To me.

Holy shit.

I started to rise from my seat—why, I wasn't sure. Maybe to tell Emily. Or to pace. Instead of either of those things, though, I sat back down. Stared at those words.

 _Dear Samuel Uley_.

Kinley's mother, who had killed herself right in front of her own daughter, had written a letter to me and added it to her will. Why hadn't anyone let me know about this before? If I hadn't gotten a wild hair to go through the rest of this stuff the caseworker sent over, I may never have seen this.

Shit, shit, shit.

Yeah, I was such an almighty alpha right now.

A deep breath in. A deep breath out.

Then I decided—I needed to read it. There was probably something important in there for me to know. So even though I wanted to delete it and move on as if I'd never seen it, I would read the letter. For Kinley.

 _Dear Samuel Uley,_

 _You don't know me, and I don't really know you. But I'm assuming if you're reading this letter that you know what I've done and that you are taking care of my daughter. Thank you for that._

 _I'm sure you have opinions of me, and they're likely negative. I deserve them and I'm not even going to try to argue my side. What I'm planning to do is terrible, but it's the only way to make my little girl safe. You see, I have a boyfriend. He was great when we first got together, kind to me and Kinley. But then things turned bad and I'm stuck. I'm stuck and I know he's going to hurt Kinley even worse than he already has and I can't let that happen._

 _I can't believe I've let so much happen already. I'm the worst mother._

 _But I recently found out about you. Samuel Uley, upstanding citizen of La Push. You even work with the council on that reservation. You're a good person, and many people can attest to that. Obviously my daughter would be better with you. So that's where she's going to go._

 _Really, I have no choice at this point. I've reached my end. But you are the key to helping Kinley through her beginning. Her new beginning. I trust you._

 _Take care of her. Make her smile and laugh and...happy. She deserves it._

 _Thanks always,_

 _Hillary Stanley_

 _P.S. If you ever have trouble with her, if she ever fades into herself and gets quiet, sing to her. "You Are My Sunshine" seems to be her favorite. I wish I didn't have to say this, but she's learned to keep silent around here and sometimes she needs help snapping out of it. I have high hopes you'll help her get over that, too. Again, thank you, Samuel Uley._

I read the words over again. Once. Twice. By the third time, a growl was rolling through me and I couldn't make it stop. This was the letter she wrote? She didn't have a choice? She'd _let_ so much happen? Kinley had learned to keep silent? It took everything in me to refrain from throwing something across the room.

At least she'd included that hint about the song. That was good, right?

The front door opened downstairs and I heard Embry greet Emily. I'd allowed him to pick Kinley up from school today since the high school only had a half day. Plus, he'd practically begged. It was probably for the better, seeing as I hadn't even noticed it was time for Kinley to be let out of school.

And now I could go test this song on her.

I wasted no time bounding down the stairs. They were all in the kitchen, where Emily was baking brownies. Every day was a new treat for Kinley—Emily's way of showing extra affection after the kidnapping scare.

Dropping a kiss on Kinley's forehead, I said, "Hey, baby girl."

Kinley looked up at me and said nothing. She only blinked.

Yeah, I had to test this song. Kneeling in front of where she was perched on Embry's lap, I took her hands in mine. After a second to clear my throat, I started, "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are gray…"

Embry was side-eyeing me with confusion and I knew Emily stopped stirring her batter to watch curiously. But Kinley...Kinley was staring at me in awe.

I made it through the first verse, but then I stumbled. I didn't know the song past that. Not really. I thought the second verse had something about sleeping and arms and crying, but damn if I could piece that together into the actual lyrics.

The moment was saved by Kinley's face breaking out into the biggest smile I'd ever seen from such a small girl.

Then she started to sing, in the sweetest little voice I'd heard in my entire life. "The other night, dear, as I lay sleeping, I dreamed I held you in my arms…"

I was stuck between being floored that she knew all these words and the the fact that she was speaking—singing—whatever. All I could do was watch her with my jaw hanging open and, fuck me, tears in my eyes.

When she finished the verse and got back to the part actually about sunshine, she glanced up at Embry and said, "Sing with me?"

Embry was in much the same state as me, but he pulled himself together and started singing, "You are my sunshine…" The guy was not cut out for singing, but Kinley appeared ecstatic.

Another voice joined in as a light hand landed on my shoulder and I peeked up to see Emily standing there, singing. She raised her eyebrows and I smiled, then joined back in.

It was then, kneeling there in the kitchen singing a sweet, sad song with my imprint, my pack brother, and my baby sister, that I finally felt my worry ease. Kinley was singing with a smile on her face. Emily was too with tears in her eyes. And Embry couldn't contain his happiness.

Oh yes, everything would definitely be alright.

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 **Ahhh, what did you think? Please let me know? This is the first story I've ended, so I hope you liked it. This is the end for Kinley and Embry (for now?), but tonight is also a BEGINNING - I'm also posting the first chapter of my next story! It's Jacob/OC, and it's called _Still Breathing_. I'm super excited to work on it, and I hope y'all check it out! **

**Thank you so much for reading! :)**


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